Method and apparatus for controlling a load

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for switching AC power to a lamp (or other load) via a two terminal switch device. The switch device comprises a first electrically controlled switch, such as a triac or relay, and a second electrically controlled resistance or switch connected in series to the first switch. A diode is connected in parallel to the second switch. When the first switch is open, only a leakage current is flowing through the switch device, supplied to an AC/DC converter for producing a low DC voltage to the switch device logic and other low-voltage circuits and for charging a capacitor. When the first switch is closed, the second switch is controlled to be conductive for allowing powering the lamp from the AC power. During part of a positive half-cycle of the AC voltage, a closed loop regulates a DC voltage over the second switch terminals for providing a low DC voltage for charging a capacitor. At least during a negative half-cycle of the AC voltage, the low DC voltage is provided from the capacitor.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates generally to an apparatus and method forcontrolling the power supplied to a load from a power source, and forbeing powered from the supplied power, and in particular to atwo-terminal switch connected serially between the power source and theload, such as remotely-controlled two-terminal light control switchpowered from the AC mains.

BACKGROUND

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in thissection are not prior art to the claims in this application and are notadmitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section. FIG. 1 shows anelectrical diagram 10 of a typical arrangement of light control in abuilding, such as in a domestic, commercial, or industrial environment.An AC power source 11 may be the mains grid, providingAlternating-Current (AC) (a.k.a. Line power, AC power, grid power, andhousehold electricity). The AC power source 11 supplies 120 VAC/60 Hz inNorth America (or 115 VAC) and 230 VAC/50 Hz (or 220 VAC) in most ofEurope. The AC power typically consists of a sine wave (or sinusoid)waveform, where the voltage relates to an RMS amplitude value (120 or230), and having a frequency measured in Hertz, relating to the numberof cycles (or oscillations) per second. Commonly single-phaseinfrastructure exists, and a wiring in the building commonly uses threewires, known as a line wire (also known as phase, hot, or active) thatcarry the alternating current, a neutral wire (also known as zero orreturn) which completes the electrical circuit by providing a returncurrent path, and an earth or ground wire, typically connected to thechassis of any AC-powered equipment, that serves as a safety meansagainst electric shocks. As illustrated in the circuit diagram 10 shownin FIG. 1, a phase line 14 b is connected to a lamp 12, serving as aload. The lamp 12 connects via a wire 14 a to a lamp switch 13 that iscommonly a Single-Pole, Single-Throw (SPST), which connects via aneutral wire 14 c to the AC power source 11. The light switch 13 iscommonly a mechanically actuated switch 20 as depicted in FIG. 2, thatis connected in series between the AC power 11 and the lamp 12, and istypically an on/off switch for turning the illumination of the lamp 12‘on’ and ‘off’. As shown in FIG. 2, the switch 13 may be wall-mountedinto a standard wall cavity, commonly using a plastic light switch box.The switch in some scenarios is connected via two terminals designatedas 15 a and 15 b, where the terminal 15 b connects to the AC power 11return via the wire 14 c, while the terminal 15 a connects to the load12 via the wire 14 a.

The building wiring lighting circuit 10 shown in FIG. 1 allows for acontrol in one location via the light switch 13. In some places such asin a hallway, stairwell, or a large room, it is more convenient tocontrol the lamp 12 from two (or more) locations. FIG. 1a shows anarrangement of a wiring circuit 16 allowing the control of the lamp 12from two locations, via two separated switches 17 a and 17 b, known asmultiway switching. The switches 17 a and 17 b are both Single-Pole,Double-Throw (SPDT) switches (a.k.a. two-way or three-way switches),each having three terminals. The light switch 17 a comprises a singlepole connected to a terminal 15 c, and can be in one of two states,designated as ‘1’ and ‘2’. In state ‘1’ the switch 17 a connects theterminal 15 c to a terminal 15 e, and in state ‘2’ the switch 17 aconnects the terminal 15 c to a terminal 15 d. Similarly, the lightswitch 17 b comprises a single pole connected to a terminal 15 h, andcan be in one of two states, designated as ‘1’ and ‘2’. In state ‘1’ theswitch 17 b connects the terminal 15 h to a terminal 15 f, and in state‘2’ the switch 17 b connects the terminal 15 h to the a terminal 15 g. Awire 14 d connects the terminal 15 e of the light switch 17 a to theterminal 15 g of the light switch 17 b, and a wire 14 e connects theterminal 15 d of the light switch 17 a to terminal 15 f of the lightswitch 17 b. In the case where both switches 17 a and 17 b are in thesame state ‘1’ or ‘2’, the circuit is open and no current flows to thelamp 12. In all other cases, where the switches are in different states,the circuit is closed hence allowing current to flow to the lamp 12.Thus the lamp 12 may be turned ‘on’ or ‘off’ from any one of theswitches 17 a and 17 b.

Using the light switch 20 requires a person to physically approach andmechanically activate the switch. In one scenario, it is preferred toremotely turn the lights on or off, without physical access to theswitch. Such remote lighting control may be used for buildingautomation, or may be part of, integrated with, or coupled to a buildingautomation system, such as a building automation system described inU.S. Pat. No. 6,967,565 to Lingemann entitled: “Building AutomationSystem”, which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as iffully set forth herein. Such system may further support, be part of, orbe integrated with, a Building Automation System (BAS) standard, and mayfurther be in part or in full in accordance with Cisco Validated Designdocument entitled: “Building Automation System over IP (BAS/IP) Designand Implementation Guide” by Cisco Systems and Johnson Controls, whichis incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forthherein.

A system for remotely controlling the operation of wall-mounted switchesis disclosed in U.S. Patent Application No. 2007/0176788 to Mor,entitled: “Remote Control System for Controlling Wall-Mounted Switches”,which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully setforth herein, describing a remote control system for controlling theoperation of a wall-mounted switch that includes a remote control unitadapted to be located at a remote location with respect to thewall-mounted switch and having a depressible switch button. Further, alight control system for two-wire installations is disclosed in U.S.Pat. No. 8,471,687 to Steiner et al., entitled: “Method and Apparatusfor Communication Message Signals in a Load Control System”, which isincorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forthherein, describing a system for independent control of electric motorsand electric lights where a plurality of two-wire installations arecoupled in series via power wires between AC source and a light/motorcontrol unit. Similarly, PCT International Publication No. WO2009/027962 to Ziv, entitled: “Remote Controlled Electrical SwitchRetrofit System”, which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposesas if fully set forth herein, describes a wall mounted power switchretrofit. The retrofit includes a switch that connects to the existingwires of the retrofitted wall mounted power switch, and allows power tobe provided to a load when turned on and prevents power from beingprovided to the load when turned off, a control unit that controls thestatus of the switch, a circuit that draws power from the existing wiresand provides it to the control unit; and wherein the control unitreceives electrical power regardless of the status of the switch.

An automatically actuatable switch device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.7,129,850 to Shih entitled: “Automatically Actuatable Switch Device”,which is incorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully setforth herein, describing a switch device that includes a housing, wherea circuit board is disposed in the housing for being coupled between anelectric power source and an electric appliance, and a remote detectingdevice that includes a light emitting and receiving device forgenerating lights to detect whether users are going towards the housingon the switch device or not. Similarly, U.S. Patent Application No.2010/0277306 to Leinen entitled: “Wireless Occupancy Sensing withAccessible Location Power Switching”, which is incorporated in itsentirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein, describes asystem that includes an accessible electrical box; a wireless receiverto receive a wireless signal from an occupancy sensor; a power switch tocontrol power to a load; and a controller to control the power switch inresponse to the wireless signal. The wireless receiver, controller, andpower switch are included in the accessible electrical box. Further, PCTInternational Publication No. WO 2014/076697 to Ziv entitled: “DeviceKit and Method for Absorbing Leakage Current” which is incorporated inits entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein, describes akit device, and method for absorbing leakage current in an electroniccircuit including at least one switch and at least one load by using anabsorbing device and an absorbing material or an absorbent markingdevice, wherein the absorbent marking device is configured to mark orattach an absorbing material on the circuit or on the load.

A storage capacitor power supply is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No 6,424,156to Okamura entitled: “Storage Capacitor Power Supply”, which isincorporated in its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forthherein, describing long-lived, lightweight, and quickly and preciselycharged storage capacitor power supply capable of stably supplyingelectric power to a load, where the power supply has a capacitor blockconsisting of capacitors connected in series, in parallel or in anycombination of series and parallel.

ZigBee is a standard for a suite of high level communication protocolsusing small, low-power digital radios based on an IEEE 802 standard forPersonal Area Network (PAN). Applications include wireless lightswitches, electrical meters with in-home-displays, and other consumerand industrial equipment that require a short-range wireless transfer ofdata at relatively low rates. The technology defined by the ZigBeespecification is intended to be simpler and less expensive than otherWPANs, such as Bluetooth. ZigBee is targeted at radio-frequency (RF)applications that require a low data rate, long battery life, and securenetworking. ZigBee has a defined rate of 250 kbps suited for periodic orintermittent data or a single signal transmission from a sensor or inputdevice.

ZigBee builds upon the physical layer and medium access control definedin IEEE standard 802.15.4 (2003 version) for low-rate WPANs. Thespecification further discloses four main components: network layer,application layer, ZigBee Device Objects (ZDOs), andmanufacturer-defined application objects, which allow for customizationand favor total integration. The ZDOs are responsible for a number oftasks, which include keeping of device roles, management of requests tojoin a network, device discovery, and security. Because ZigBee nodes cango from a sleep to active mode in 30 ms or less, the latency can be lowand devices can be responsive, particularly compared to Bluetoothwake-up delays, which are typically around three seconds. ZigBee nodescan sleep most of the time, thus an average power consumption can belower, resulting in longer battery life.

There are three defined types of ZigBee devices: ZigBee coordinator(ZC), which is the most capable device and forms the root of the networktree and might bridge to other networks. There is exactly one definedZigBee coordinator in each network, since it is the device that startedthe network originally. It is able to store information about thenetwork, including acting as the Trust Center & repository for securitykeys. ZigBee Router (ZR) may be running an application function as wellas can acting as an intermediate router, passing on data from otherdevices. ZigBee End Device (ZED) contains functionality to talk to aparent node (either the coordinator or a router). This relationshipallows the node to be asleep a significant amount of the time, therebygiving long battery life. A ZED requires the least amount of memory, andtherefore can be less expensive to manufacture than a ZR or ZC.

The protocols build on recent algorithmic research (Ad-hoc On-demandDistance Vector, neuRFon) to automatically construct a low-speed ad-hocnetwork of nodes. In most large network instances, the network will be acluster of clusters. It can also form a mesh or a single cluster. Thecurrent ZigBee protocols support beacon and non-beacon enabled networks.In non-beacon-enabled networks, an unslotted CSMA/CA channel accessmechanism is used. In this type of network, ZigBee Routers typicallyhave their receivers continuously active, requiring a more robust powersupply. However, this allows for heterogeneous networks in which somedevices receive continuously, while others only transmit when anexternal stimulus is detected.

In beacon-enabled networks, the special network nodes called ZigBeeRouters transmit periodic beacons to confirm their presence to othernetwork nodes. Nodes may sleep between the beacons, thus lowering theirduty cycle and extending their battery life. Beacon intervals depend onthe data rate; they may range from 15.36 milliseconds to 251.65824seconds at 250 Kbit/s, from 24 milliseconds to 393.216 seconds at 40Kbit/s, and from 48 milliseconds to 786.432 seconds at 20 Kbit/s. Ingeneral, the ZigBee protocols minimize the time the radio is on, so asto reduce power use. In beaconing networks, nodes only need to be activewhile a beacon is being transmitted. In non-beacon-enabled networks,power consumption is decidedly asymmetrical: some devices are alwaysactive, while others spend most of their time sleeping.

Except for the Smart Energy Profile 2.0, current ZigBee devices conformto the IEEE 802.15.4-2003 Low-Rate Wireless Personal Area Network(LR-WPAN) standard. The standard specifies the lower protocol layers—thePHYsical layer (PHY), and the Media Access Control (MAC) portion of theData Link Layer (DLL). The basic channel access mode is “Carrier Sense,Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance” (CSMA/CA). That is, the nodes talkin the same way that people converse; they briefly check to see that noone is talking before they start. There are three notable exceptions tothe use of CSMA. Beacons are sent on a fixed time schedule, and do notuse CSMA. Message acknowledgments also do not use CSMA. Finally, devicesin Beacon Oriented networks that have low latency real-time requirementsmay also use Guaranteed Time Slots (GTS), which by definition do not useCSMA.

Z-Wave is a wireless communications protocol by the Z-Wave Alliance(http://www.z-wave.com) designed for home automation, specifically forremote control applications in residential and light commercialenvironments. The technology uses a low-power RF radio embedded orretrofitted into home electronics devices and systems, such as lighting,home access control, entertainment systems and household appliances.Z-Wave communicates using a low-power wireless technology designedspecifically for remote control applications. Z-Wave operates in thesub-gigahertz frequency range, around 900 MHz. This band competes withsome cordless telephones and other consumer electronics devices, butavoids interference with WiFi and other systems that operate on thecrowded 2.4 GHz band. Z-Wave is designed to be easily embedded inconsumer electronics products, including battery-operated devices suchas remote controls, smoke alarms and security sensors.

Z-Wave is a mesh networking technology where each node or device on thenetwork is capable of sending and receiving control commands throughwalls or floors and use intermediate nodes to route around householdobstacles or radio dead spots that might occur in the home. Z-Wavedevices can work individually or in groups, and can be programmed intoscenes or events that trigger multiple devices, either automatically orvia remote control. The Z-wave radio specifications include bandwidth of9,600 bit/s or 40 Kbit/s, fully interoperable, GFSK modulation, and arange of approximately 100 feet (or 30 meters) assuming “open air”conditions, with reduced range indoors depending on building materials,etc. The Z-Wave radio uses the 900 MHz ISM band: 908.42 MHz (UnitedStates); 868.42 MHz (Europe); 919.82 MHz (Hong Kong); 921.42 MHz(Australia/New Zealand).

Z-Wave uses a source-routed mesh network topology and has one or moremaster controllers that control routing and security. The devices cancommunicate to another by using intermediate nodes to actively routearound and circumvent household obstacles or radio dead spots that mightoccur. A message from node A to node C can be successfully deliveredeven if the two nodes are not within range, providing that a third nodeB can communicate with nodes A and C. If the preferred route isunavailable, the message originator will attempt other routes until apath is found to the “C” node. Therefore a Z-Wave network can span muchfarther than the radio range of a single unit; however, with several ofthese hops a delay may be introduced between the control command and thedesired result. In order for Z-Wave units to be able to routeunsolicited messages, they cannot be in sleep mode. Therefore, mostbattery-operated devices are not designed as repeater units. A Z-Wavenetwork can consist of up to 232 devices with the option of bridgingnetworks if more devices are required.

Prior art technologies for data networking may be based on singlecarrier modulation techniques, such as AM (Amplitude Modulation), FM(Frequency Modulation), and PM (Phase Modulation), as well as bitencoding techniques such as QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) andQPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying). Spread spectrum technologies, toinclude both DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum) and FHSS (FrequencyHopping Spread Spectrum) are known in the art. Spread spectrum commonlyemploys Multi-Carrier Modulation (MCM) such as OFDM (OrthogonalFrequency Division Multiplexing). OFDM and other spread spectrum arecommonly used in wireless communication systems, and in particular inWLAN networks.

A popular wireless technology is commonly referred to as Wireless LocalArea Network (WLAN), such communication makes use of the Industrial,Scientific and Medical (ISM) frequency spectrum. In the US, three of thebands within the ISM spectrum are the A band, 902-928 MHz; the B band,2.4-2.484 GHz (a.k.a. 2.4 GHz); and the C band, 5.725-5.875 GHz (a.k.a.5 GHz). Overlapping and/or similar bands are used in different regionssuch as Europe and Japan. In order to allow interoperability betweenequipment manufactured by different vendors, few WLAN standards haveevolved, as part of the IEEE 802.11 standard group, branded as WiFi(www.wi-fi.org). IEEE 802.11b describes a communication using the 2.4GHz frequency band and supporting communication rate of 11 Mb/s, IEEE802.11a uses the 5 GHz frequency band to carry 54 MB/s and IEEE 802.11guses the 2.4 GHz band to support 54 Mb/s.

A node/client with a WLAN interface is commonly referred to as STA(Wireless Station/Wireless client). The STA functionality may beembedded as part of the data unit, or alternatively be a dedicated unit,referred to as bridge, coupled to the data unit. While STAs maycommunicate without any additional hardware (ad-hoc mode), such networkusually involves Wireless Access Point (a.k.a. WAP or AP) as a mediationdevice. The WAP implements the Basic Stations Set (BSS) and/or ad-hocmode based on Independent BSS (IBSS). STA, client, bridge and WAP willbe collectively referred to hereon as WLAN unit. Bandwidth allocationfor IEEE 802.11g wireless in the U.S. allows multiple communicationsessions to take place simultaneously, where eleven overlapping channelsare defined spaced 5 MHz apart, spanning from 2412 MHz as the centerfrequency for channel number 1, via channel 2 centered at 2417 MHz and2457 MHz as the center frequency for channel number 10, up to channel 11centered at 2462 MHz. Each channel bandwidth is 22 MHz, symmetrically(+/−11 MHz) located around the center frequency. In the transmissionpath, first the baseband signal (IF) is generated based on the data tobe transmitted, using 256 QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) basedOFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) modulation technique,resulting a 22 MHz (single channel wide) frequency band signal. Thesignal is then up converted to the 2.4 GHz (RF) and placed in the centerfrequency of required channel, and transmitted to the air via theantenna. Similarly, the receiving path comprises a received channel inthe RF spectrum, down converted to the baseband (IF) wherein the data isthen extracted.

In consideration of the foregoing, it would be an advancement in the artto provide a method and systems supporting power control to a load,remotely control power to a load, an improved diagnostics and security,or monitoring proper operation, or detecting deterioration, that aresimple, secure, cost-effective, reliable, easy to use or monitor, has aminimum part count, minimum hardware, and/or uses existing and availablecomponents, protocols, programs and applications for providing bettercontrol, monitoring, security, and additional functionalities, andprovides a better user experience.

SUMMARY

A switching device is disclosed having two terminals that may beconnected for switching AC power from AC power source (such asdomestic/mains AC power 120 VAC/60 Hz or 230 VAC/50 Hz) to a lamp oranother load. The switching device may substitute a common light switchin a building. The switching device includes a switch block connectedbetween its terminals, having a controlled switch having on/off states(such as a relay or a triac) connected in series to a controlledresistance component that may be controlled by a control port, which maybe based on an MOSFET transistor, where the gate port controls the Rdsbetween the drain and source ports. The switching device may be in an‘on’ state, where the controlled switch is ‘on’ and the resistance maybe controlled to a low resistance, such as Rds(on) in an MOSFET example.The switching device may be in an ‘off’ state, where the controlledswitch is ‘off’ or the resistance may be controlled to a highresistance, such as Rds(off) in an MOSFET example. The switching devicemay be locally or remotely activated, or both.

The electronic circuits of the switching device, such as the logic orcontrol electronic circuits, may be DC powered from a DC power supplythat may be part of the switching device and powered from the AC powersource, and providing a low-voltage DC power. The DC power supply may bebased on a capacitor supplying the DC voltage. During the switchingdevice ‘off’ state, a low-power AC/DC converter uses a leakage currentfor powering the electronic circuits. During the switching device ‘on’state, in part of the time, such as a part of the cycle of the AC power,the resistance of the controlled resistance component may be controlledto be high-resistance. Hence a DC voltage may be developing across thecontrolled resistance component, charging the capacitor. During anotherpart of the time, such as the other part of the cycle of the AC power,the resistance of the controlled resistance component may be controlledto be low-resistance, and the DC power supply uses the energy stored inthe capacitor to power the switching device circuits. The capacitorcharging may be performed at the positive half-cycle of the AC powercycle (as measured at the terminals), detected by comparing the voltageacross the controlled resistance component to be positive and lower thanthe voltage across the capacitor. When charged as designed, thecontrolled resistance component may be controlled to be in alow-resistance state until the beginning of the positive half-cycle.After charging the capacitor and reverting to low-resistance state,preferably during the negative half-cycle, the resistance of thecontrolled resistance component may be periodically controlled for ashort-period to be high-resistance, when the voltage across thecontrolled resistance component may be measured, to verify when thenegative half-cycle may be completed, and a positive half-cycle starts.

The switching device may include a control block, comprising a memorystoring a software or firmware and a processor executing thesoftware/firmware. The processor controls the switch block bycontrolling the controlled switch and the controlled resistancecomponent. The control switch may comprise touch button for humanactivation of the switch (turning it ‘on’ or ‘off’). The control blockmay further include a wireless transceiver, which may be Zigbee, Z-Wave,WLAN or proprietary based), for allowing the switching device to beremotely activated via a wireless network. Some of the functionalitiesor circuits of the switching device may be designated as low priority,and in the case the DC power supply block may not provide the requiredpower for the switching device to be fully operational, the switchingdevice shifts to ‘low-power’ mode, where the processor deactivates thelow priority functionalities or disconnect the low priority circuitsfrom the DC power, for example by using a relay or other controlledswitch. For example, a backlight illumination may be reduced oreliminated, or a wireless transceiver transmitting power may be reduced.

The switch may be used as a substitute to a typical light switch. In oneexample, the switching device may be used in a multiway system, wherethe load may be switched from two distinct locations, such as two lightswitches. In such configuration, the two switches may be substitutedwith two multiway devices where each device may be based on, orconsisting of, the switching device. The two multiway devices may beconnected so that the two switching devices may be connected inparallel. One of the multiway devices further comprises a detecting avoltage sensing block for sensing the voltage developed on the switchingdevice terminals. Such voltage-sensing block may comprise a diode bridgefor rectifying the sensed voltage, a regulator for producing a referencevoltage, and a comparator for comparing the sensed voltage to thereference voltage. By measuring the developed voltage across theterminals, the state of the switching device that may be connected inparallel may be determined, where low voltage indicates the otherswitching device in an ‘on’ state, and high voltage indicates an ‘off’state. The switching device having the voltage sensing block follows theother switching device and shifts to ‘on’ or ‘off’ according to theother switching device state.

A device having two terminals connectable in series to an AC powersource and a load for switching an AC power signal from the AC powersource to the load is described. The device may comprise in a singleenclosure a first terminal for connecting to the AC power source; asecond terminal for connecting to the load; a first electricallycontrolled switching component comprising a first switch connectedbetween third and fourth terminals that may be controlled by a firstsignal at a fifth terminal; a second electrically controlled switchingcomponent comprising a second switch connected between sixth and seventhterminals that may be controlled by a second signal at an eighthterminal; and a logic circuit coupled to output the first and secondsignals respectively to the fifth and eighth terminals. The first andsecond switches may be coupled in series to pass the AC power signalbetween the first and second terminals, the device may be powered onlyfrom the AC power signal, and the device may be configured to be infirst and second states. In the first state the first and secondswitches may be controlled by the logic circuit to pass the AC powersignal between the first and second terminals to power the load, and inthe second state the first and second switches may be controlled by thelogic circuit to stop the AC power signal between the first and secondterminals. The logic circuit may consist of, or include, software and aprocessor for executing the software.

The logic circuit may be at least partially powered from the AC powersignal. The first electrically controlled switching component, or thesecond electrically controlled switching component, may be based on, maybe part of, or may consist of, a relay. The relay may be asolenoid-based electromagnetic relay, a reed relay, a solid-state, or asemiconductor based (such as Solid State Relay (SSR)) relay.Alternatively or in addition, the first electrically controlledswitching component or the electrically controlled switching secondcomponent, may be based on, may comprise, or may consist of, anelectrical circuit that comprises an open collector transistor, an opendrain transistor, a thyristor, a TRIAC, or an opto-isolator.Alternatively or in addition, the first electrically controlledswitching component or the second electrically controlled switchingcomponent, may be based on, may comprise, or may consist of, anelectrical circuit or a transistor, that may be a field-effect powertransistor such as an N-channel or a P-channel field-effect powertransistor, the third connection or the sixth connection may be a‘drain’ pin, the fourth connection or the seventh connection may be a‘source’ pin, and the fifth terminal or the eighth terminal may be a‘gate’ pin.

The device may further comprise an AC/DC converter connected to be powerfed from the first and second terminals, and configured to supply a DCpower, and may further comprise a capacitor or a battery connected to becharged from the DC power.

The device may further comprise a tactile sensor coupled to the logiccircuit for shifting between the states in response to a human touch ora human mechanical activation. Alternatively or in addition, the devicemay be operative to shifting between the states in response to a remotecommand The device may further comprise an antenna for receiving signalsover the air, a wireless transceiver coupled to the antenna to receivethe remote command from a wireless network, and the logic circuits maybe coupled to the wireless transceiver to receive the remote commandtherefrom. The wireless network may be a Wireless Personal Area Network(WPAN), the wireless transceiver may be a WPAN transceiver, and theantenna may be a WPAN antenna, and the WPAN may be according to, orbased on, Bluetooth™ or IEEE 802.15.1-2005 standards, or the WPAN may bea wireless control network that may be according to, or based on,Zigbee™, IEEE 802.15.4-2003, or Z-Wave™ standards. Alternatively or inaddition, the wireless network may be a Wireless Local Area Network(WLAN), the wireless transceiver may be a WLAN transceiver, and theantenna may be a WLAN antenna, and the WLAN may be according to, or baseon, IEEE 802.11-2012, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE802.11n, or IEEE 802.11ac. The wireless network may be over a licensedor unlicensed radio frequency band, such as an Industrial, Scientificand Medical (ISM) radio band. Alternatively or in addition, the wirelessnetwork may be a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN); the wirelesstransceiver may be a WWAN transceiver, and the antenna may be a WWANantenna. The WWAN may be a wireless broadband network such as a WiMAXnetwork; the antenna may be a WiMAX antenna, and the wirelesstransceiver may be a WiMAX modem, and the WiMAX network may be accordingto, or based on, IEEE 802.16-2009. Alternatively or in addition, thewireless network may be a cellular telephone network, the antenna may bea cellular antenna, and the wireless transceiver may be a cellularmodem, and the cellular telephone network may be a Third Generation (3G)network that uses UMTS W-CDMA, UMTS HSPA, UMTS TDD, CDMA2000 1xRTT,CDMA2000 EV-DO, or GSM EDGE-Evolution, or the cellular telephone networkmay be a Fourth Generation (4G) network that uses HSPA+, Mobile WiMAX,LTE, LTE-Advanced, MBWA, or may be based on IEEE 802.20-2008.

The device may be further configured to substitute a light switch, andthe single enclosure may be dimensioned and shaped to be installed in alight switch outlet cavity. The AC power may be a domestic mains, suchas nominally 120 VAC/60 Hz or 230 VAC/50 Hz. The load may be a lightsource such as an electric light source for converting electrical energyinto light. The electric light source may emit visible or non-visiblelight for illumination or indication, and the non-visible light may beinfrared, ultraviolet, X-rays, or gamma rays. The electric light sourcemay consist of, or may comprise, a lamp, an incandescent lamp, a gasdischarge lamp, a fluorescent lamp, a Solid-State Lighting (SSL), aLight Emitting Diode (LED), an Organic LED (OLED), a polymer LED (PLED),or a laser diode.

A system for switching AC power from the AC power source to the load isdisclosed, the system comprising the load; and the device. The devicemay be connected in series between the AC power source and the load forswitching the AC power from the AC power source to the load.

The device may further comprise an electrical energy-storing component,such as a rechargeable battery or a capacitor, for storing DC power andfor powering the logic circuit; the component may be coupled in parallelto the second switch to be charged from the AC power signal. As part ofthe first state the device may be configured further to be in third andfourth states, in the third state the component may be charged from theAC power signal, and in the fourth state the logic circuit may bepowered by the component.

The device may further comprise a voltage detector responsive to thedetected voltage across the first and second terminals, across thesecond switch, or across the electrical energy-storing component, andthe device may be configured to be in the third state when the detectedvoltage may be positive. The device may further be used with a voltagethreshold, and the device may be configured to be in the third statewhen the detected voltage may be below the voltage threshold.Alternatively or in addition, the device may comprise a voltage detectorresponsive to the detected voltage across the first and secondterminals, across the second switch, or across the electricalenergy-storing component, and the device may be configured to be in thethird state when the detected voltage may be negative. The device mayfurther be used with a voltage threshold, and the device may beconfigured to be in the third state when the detected voltage may beabove the voltage threshold. Alternatively or in addition, the devicemay be used with first and second voltage thresholds, and the device mayfurther comprise a voltage detector responsive to the detected voltageacross the first and second terminals, across the second switch, oracross the electrical energy-storing component, and the device may beconfigured to be in the third state when the detected voltage may bebetween the first and second voltage thresholds. The first threshold maybe zero volts.

The device may further comprise an occupancy sensor for detectingoccupancy of a space by a human body, the sensor coupled to the logiccircuit for shifting between the states in response to detecting apresence of a human by using electric effect, inductive coupling,capacitive coupling, triboelectric effect, piezoelectric effect, fiberoptic transmission, or radar intrusion sensing. The occupancy sensor mayconsist of, comprise, or may be based on, a motion sensor, an acousticsensor, opacity, geomagnetism, magnetic sensors, magnetometer,reflection of transmitted energy, infrared laser radar, microwave radar,electromagnetic induction, or vibration. The motion sensor may be amechanically actuated sensor, passive or active electronic sensor,ultrasonic sensor, microwave sensor, tomographic detector, passiveinfrared (PIR) sensor, laser optical detector, or acoustical detector.Alternatively or in addition, the sensor may be a photoelectric sensorthat responds to a visible or an invisible light, the invisible lightmay be infrared, ultraviolet, X-rays, or gamma rays, and thephotoelectric sensor may be based on the photoelectric or photovoltaiceffect, and may consist of, or comprise, a semiconductor component thatconsists of, or comprises, a photodiode, or a phototransistor. Thephotoelectric sensor may be based on Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) or aComplementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) component.

The device may be used in a system for switching AC power from the ACpower source to the load. The system may comprise the load that may be adomestic appliance that includes an actuator that converts electricalenergy to affects a phenomenon; and the device. The device may beconnected in series between the AC power source and the load forswitching the AC power from the AC power source to the load. Theactuator may be an electric thermoelectric actuator that may be a heateror a cooler, operative for affecting the temperature of a solid, aliquid, or a gas object, and may be coupled to the object by conduction,convection, forced convection, thermal radiation, or by the transfer ofenergy by phase changes. Alternatively or in addition, the actuator maybe a sounder for converting an electrical energy to omnidirectional,unidirectional, or bidirectional pattern emitted, audible or inaudible,sound waves. The sound may be audible, and the sounder may be anelectromagnetic loudspeaker, a piezoelectric speaker, an electrostaticloudspeaker (ESL), a ribbon or a planar magnetic loudspeaker, or abending wave loudspeaker.

Alternatively or in addition, the actuator may be an electricthermoelectric actuator that may be a heater or a cooler, operative foraffecting the temperature of a solid, a liquid, or a gas object, and maybe coupled to the object by conduction, convection, force convention,thermal radiation, or by the transfer of energy by phase changes. Thethermoelectric actuator may be a cooler based on a heat pump driving arefrigeration cycle using a compressor-based electric motor, or anelectric heater that may be a resistance heater or a dielectric heater.Alternatively or in addition, the actuator may be a display for visuallypresenting information, the display may be a monochrome, grayscale orcolor display and consists of an array of light emitters or lightreflectors, or a video display supporting Standard-Definition (SD) orHigh-Definition (HD) standards that may be capable of scrolling, static,bold or flashing the presented information.

Alternatively or in addition, the actuator may be a motion actuator thatcauses linear or rotary motion, and the system may further comprise aconversion mechanism for respectfully converting to rotary or linearmotion based on a screw, a wheel and axle, or a cam. The motion actuatormay be a pneumatic, a hydraulic, or an electrical actuator. Theelectrical actuator may be a brushed, a brushless, or an uncommutated DCmotor, that may be a stepper motor using a Permanent Magnet (PM) motor,a Variable reluctance (VR) motor, or a hybrid synchronous stepper.Alternatively or in addition, the electrical motor may be an AC motorthat may be an induction motor, a synchronous motor, or an eddy currentmotor, and may be a single-phase AC induction motor, a two-phase ACservo motor, or a three-phase AC synchronous motor, a split-phase motor,a capacitor-start motor, or a Permanent-Split Capacitor (PSC) motor.

The load may be a water heater, HVAC system, air conditioner, heater,washing machine, clothes dryer, vacuum cleaner, microwave oven, electricmixer, stove, oven, refrigerator, freezer, food processor, dishwasher,food blender, beverage maker, coffeemaker, answering machine, telephoneset, home cinema system, HiFi system, CD or DVD player, inductioncooker, electric furnace, trash compactor, electric shutter, ordehumidifier.

The device may further comprise in the single enclosure a sensor coupledto sense the voltage across the first switch, and the sensor may becoupled to the fifth terminal for producing the first in response to thesensed voltage. The device may further be operative to be powered fromthe AC power signal, and may further comprise an electricalenergy-storing component coupled in parallel to the first switch to becharged from the AC power signal. The sensor may be coupled to bepowered from the electrical energy-storing component, which may be acapacitor (such as an electrolytic or a tantalum capacitor) or arechargeable battery. The device may further be operative to be in thirdand fourth states, in the third state the electrical energy-storingcomponent may be charged from the AC power signal, and in the fourthstate, the electrical energy-storing component may power the sensor. Thedevice may further comprise a sensor for detecting positive and negativehalf-cycles of the AC power signal, and the device may be in the thirdstate during an entire of, or a part of, one of the half-cycles, and thedevice may be in the fourth state during an entire of, or a part of, theother half-cycle.

The device may be used with a defined voltage threshold, and the sensormay be a comparator coupled to compare the voltage across the firstswitch to the voltage threshold. In the case the voltage across thefirst switch or the energy-storage component may be below the voltagethreshold, the voltage may be supplied to the fifth terminal forstopping the AC power signal flow via the first switch. In the case thevoltage across the first switch or the energy storage component may beabove the voltage threshold, the voltage may be supplied to the fifthterminal for passing the power signal via the first switch.

The device may further be used for detecting polarity or magnitude ofthe AC power signal, and may further comprise in the single enclosure avoltage detector coupled to sense the polarity or the magnitude of thevoltage across the first switch; and a logic circuit coupled to outputthe control voltage at a fifth terminal and to the voltage detector. Thefirst switch may be closed so that the AC power signal may be passedfrom the AC power source to the load, and the logic circuit may outputthe first signal to the fifth terminal so as to open the switch for atime interval, and the voltage detector may sense the polarity or themagnitude of the power signal when the first switch may be configured tostop the AC power signal. The logic circuit outputs a control voltage tothe fifth terminal periodically, and the time interval may be less than1 millisecond. The AC power signal may be in a sinewave form including apositive half-cycle and a negative half-cycle in a cycle time period,and the time interval may be substantially less than the AC power signaltime period, such as less than one tenth of the AC power signal timeperiod. The device may be operative to sense and indicate one of thehalf-cycles of the AC power signal time period, and may periodicallyoperative to outputs a control voltage to the fifth terminal until thedetecting the non-indicated half-cycle of the AC power signal timeperiod. Alternatively or in addition, the device may be operative tooutput the first signal to the fifth terminal in a delay after thenon-indicated half-cycle of the AC power signal time period, and thedelay may be higher than half of the cycle time period and may be lowerthan the cycle time period.

The device may further be operative to be powered from the AC powersignal, and may further comprise an electrical energy-storing component(such as a capacitor or a rechargeable battery) coupled in parallel tothe first switch to be charged from the AC power signal when the firstswitch may be configured for stopping the AC power signal flow via thefirst switch. The device may be further used with first and secondvoltage thresholds, and the electrical energy storing component may becharged from the AC power signal when the voltage detected across thefirst switch or across the electrical energy-storing component, may bebetween the first and second voltage thresholds, and the first voltagethreshold may be zero volts.

Two such devices may be used in a multiway AC power switching system ina building that comprises an AC power source for supplying an AC powersignal; an AC load connectable to be powered from the AC power source; afirst device in a first single enclosure that may be dimensioned andshaped to be installed in a light switch outlet cavity; and a seconddevice in a second single enclosure that may be dimensioned and shapedto be installed in a light switch outlet cavity. Each of the devices maybe stopping the AC power signal in an open state for and may be passingthe AC power signal in a closed state, each of the devices may beconnected in series for switching the AC power signal from the AC powersource to the AC load, and the first and second devices may be connectedin parallel whereby each of switches may be configured to pass the ACpower signal from the AC power source to the AC load. The first devicemay be located in a first location, and the second device may be locatedin a second location distinct from the first location, and the twodevices may be connected via two wires in a wall of the building. Thefirst device may further comprise a sensor for sensing the state of thesecond switch, and the sensor may be a voltage detector for detectingthe voltage across the first device terminals. The sensing the state ofthe second device may be performed periodically, and the state of thefirst device may be determined based on the state of the second device.The first device may be operative during the closed state to stop the ACpower signal for a time interval, whereby a voltage may be developedover the first device that may be sensed by the voltage detector, andthe first device may be powered by the voltage developed across thesecond device.

The second device may further comprise a transmitter for sending thestate of the second device, and the first device may further comprise areceiver for receiving the state of the second device from thetransmitter. The first device may shift to the received state of thesecond device; the transmitter may be a wireless transmitter, and thereceiver may be a wireless receiver. Each of the devices may furthercomprise a visual indicator for indicating the switch state. Further,each of the devices may comprise a tactile sensor for shifting betweenthe states in response to a human touch or a human mechanicalactivation.

The device may be having two terminals connectable in series to a powersource and a load for switching a power signal from the power source tothe load. The device may comprise in a single enclosure a first terminalfor connecting to the power source; a second terminal for connecting tothe load; an electrically controlled switching component comprising aswitch between third and fourth terminals that may be controlled by avoltage at a fifth terminal, the third terminal coupled to the firstterminal and the fourth terminal coupled to the second terminal so thatthe power signal may be passed between the third and fourth terminals;and a sensor coupled to sense the voltage across the third and fourthterminals. The sensor may be coupled to the electrically controlledswitching component for producing a voltage to the fifth terminal inresponse to the sensed voltage.

The device may further be operative to be powered from the power signal,and may further comprise an electrical energy-storing component (such asan electrolytic or tantalum capacitor, or a rechargeable battery)coupled to the third and fourth terminals to be charged from the powersignal, and the sensor may be coupled to be powered from the electricalenergy-storing component. The device may further be operative to befirst and second states, wherein in the first state the electricalenergy-storing component may be charged from the power signal, and inthe second state the electrical energy-storing component may power thesensor. The device may be used with a defined voltage threshold, whereinthe sensor may be a comparator coupled to compare the voltage across thethird and fourth terminals to the voltage threshold. In the case thevoltage across the third and fourth terminals or the energy storagecomponent may be below the voltage threshold, the voltage may besupplied to the fifth terminal for stopping the power signal flow viathe switch. In the case the voltage across the third and fourthterminals or the energy storage component may be above the voltagethreshold, the voltage may be supplied to the fifth terminal for passingthe power signal via the switch. The electrically controlled switchingmay be based on, or consists of, an electrical circuit or a transistor,which may be a field-effect power transistor (such as an N-channel or aP-channel field-effect power transistor) where the third terminal may bethe ‘drain’ pin, the fourth terminal may be the ‘source’ pin, and thefifth terminal may be the ‘gate’ pin.

The power source may be an AC power source (such as a domestic mains),and the power signal may be an AC power signal such as nominally 120VAC/60 Hz or 230 VAC/50 Hz. The load may be a light source such as anelectric light source for converting electrical energy into light.Further, the device may comprise a capacitor and may be operative to bein first and second states, and where in the first state the capacitormay be charged from the AC power signal, and in the second state thecapacitor may power the sensor. The device may further comprise a sensorfor detecting positive and negative half-cycles of the AC power signal,and the device may be in the first state during an entire of, or a partof, one of the half-cycles, and the device may be in the second stateduring an entire of, or a part of, the other half-cycle.

The device may comprise a DC converter coupled to the first and secondterminal for passing of, and for being powered by, the power signal. Thepower signal may be an AC power signal, and the DC converter may be anAC/DC converter. Alternatively or in addition, the power signal may be aDC power signal, and the DC converter may be a DC/DC converter. Thedevice may further comprise an electrical energy-storing componentcoupled to be charged from the DC converter, and for powering the sensorfrom the electrical energy-storing component.

The device may further be used for detecting polarity or magnitude ofthe power signal. The device may further comprise in the singleenclosure a voltage detector coupled to sense the polarity or themagnitude of the voltage across the third and fourth terminals, and alogic circuit coupled to output the control voltage at a fifth terminaland to the voltage detector. The switch may be closed so that the powersignal may be passed from the power source to the load, the logiccircuit may output a control voltage to the fifth terminal so as to openthe switch for a time interval, and the voltage detector may sense thepolarity or the magnitude of the power signal when the switch may beconfigured to stop the power signal. The logic circuit may output acontrol voltage to the fifth terminal periodically, such as where thetime interval may be less than 1 millisecond. Further, the power sourcemay be an AC power source and the power signal may be an AC power signalin a sinewave form including a positive half-cycle and a negativehalf-cycle in a cycle time period. The time interval may besubstantially less than the AC power signal time period, such as lessthan one tenth of the AC power signal time period. The device mayfurther be operative to sense and indicate one of the half-cycles of theAC power signal time period, and may be periodically operative tooutputs a control voltage to the fifth terminal until the detecting thenon-indicated half-cycle of the AC power signal time period. Further,the device may be operative to outputs a control voltage to the fifthterminal in a delay after the non-indicated half-cycle of the AC powersignal time period, and the delay may be higher than half of the cycletime period and may be lower than the cycle time period.

The device may further be operative to be powered from the power signal,and may further comprise an electrical energy-storing component, whichmay be a capacitor or a rechargeable battery, coupled in parallel to theswitch to be charged from the power signal when the switch may beconfigured for stopping the power signal flow between the third andfourth terminals. The device may further be used with first and secondvoltage thresholds, wherein the electrical energy-storing component maybe charged from the power signal when the voltage detected across thefirst and second terminals, across the third and fourth terminals, oracross the electrical energy-storing component, may be between the firstand second voltage thresholds. The first voltage threshold may be zerovolts.

The device may be operative to be in first, second, and third states,wherein in the first state the logic circuit may output a controlvoltage to the fifth terminal periodically, in the second state theelectrical energy storing component may be charged from the powersignal, and in the third state the switch may be configured tocontinuously pass the power signal. The device may shift from the firststate to the second state upon detecting a change of the detectedvoltage polarity, and may be in the second state when the voltagedetected across the first and second terminals, across the third andfourth terminals, or across the electrical energy-storing component, maybe between the first and second voltage thresholds. The device may be inthe third state for a time interval. The power source may be an AC powersource and the power signal may be an AC power signal in sinewave formincluding a positive half-cycle and a negative half-cycle in a cycletime period, and the time interval may be between an half-cycle periodto a full-cycle period.

Two devices may be used in a multiway AC power switching system in abuilding. The system may comprise an AC power source for supplying an ACpower signal; an AC load connectable to be powered from the AC powersource; a first device in a first single enclosure that may bedimensioned and shaped to be installed in a light switch outlet cavity;and a second device in a second single enclosure that may be dimensionedand shaped to be installed in a light switch outlet cavity. Each of thedevices may be stopping the AC power signal in an open state for and maybe passing the AC power signal in a closed state, and each of thedevices may be connected in series for switching the AC power signalfrom the AC power source to the AC load, and the first and seconddevices may be connected in parallel whereby each of switches may beconfigured to pass the AC power signal from the AC power source to theAC load. The first device may be located in a first location and thesecond device may be located in a second location that may be distinctfrom the first location, and the two devices may be connected via twowires in a wall of the building.

The first device may further comprise a sensor for sensing the state ofthe second switch, and the sensor may be a voltage detector fordetecting the voltage across the first device terminals, such as forperiodically sensing the state of the second device. The state of thefirst device may be determined based on the state of the second device.The first device may be operative during the closed state to stop the ACpower signal for a time interval, whereby a voltage may be developedover the first device that may be sensed by the voltage detector. Thefirst device may be powered by the voltage developed across the seconddevice. The second device may further comprise a transmitter (such as awireless transmitter) for sending the state of the second device, andthe first device may further comprise a receiver (such as a wirelessreceiver) for receiving the state of the second device from thetransmitter, and the first device may shift to the received state of thesecond device. Each of the switches may further comprise a visualindicator indicating the switch state, and each of the devices mayfurther comprise a tactile sensor for shifting between the states inresponse to a human touch or a human mechanical activation.

The device may be having two terminals for detecting polarity ormagnitude of a power signal, and connectable in series between a powersource and a load for switching the power signal from the power sourceto the load. The device may comprise in a single enclosure a firstterminal for connecting to the power source; a second terminal forconnecting to the load; an electrically controlled switching componentcomprising a switch between third and fourth terminals that may becontrolled by a control voltage at a fifth terminal, the third terminalcoupled to the first terminal and the fourth terminal coupled to thesecond terminal so that the power signal may be passed between the thirdand fourth terminals; a voltage detector coupled to sense the polarityor the magnitude of the voltage across the third and fourth terminals;and a logic circuit coupled to output the control voltage at a fifthterminal and to the voltage detector. When the switch may be closed sothat the power signal may be passed from the power source to the load,the logic circuit may output a control voltage to the fifth terminal soas to open the switch for a time interval, and the voltage detector maysense the polarity or the magnitude of the power signal when the switchmay be configured to stop the power signal.

The logic circuit may output a control voltage to the fifth terminalperiodically, such as using the time interval that may be less than 1millisecond. The power source may be an AC power source and the powersignal may be an AC power signal in sinewave form including a positivehalf-cycle and a negative half-cycle in a cycle time period. The timeinterval may be substantially less than the AC power signal time period,such as less than one tenth of the AC power signal time period. Thedevice may be operative to sense and indicate one of the half-cycles ofthe AC power signal time period, and may be periodically operative tooutputs a control voltage to the fifth terminal until the detecting thenon-indicated half-cycle of the AC power signal time period.Alternatively or in addition, the device may be operative to output acontrol voltage to the fifth terminal in a delay after the non-indicatedhalf-cycle of the AC power signal time period, and the delay may behigher than half of the cycle time period, and may be lower than thecycle time period.

The device may be further operative to be powered from the power signal,and may further comprise an electrical energy-storing component coupledin parallel to the switch to be charged from the power signal when theswitch may be configured for stopping the power signal flow between thethird and fourth terminals. The device may be used with first and secondvoltage thresholds, wherein the electrical energy-storing component maybe charged from the power signal when the voltage detected across thefirst and second terminals, across the third and fourth terminals, oracross the electrical energy-storing component, may be between the firstand second voltage thresholds. The first voltage threshold may be zerovolts.

The device may further be operative to be in first, second, and thirdstates, wherein in the first state the logic circuit may output acontrol voltage to the fifth terminal periodically, in the second statethe electrical energy-storing component may be charged from the powersignal, and in the third state the switch may be configured tocontinuously pass the power signal. The device may shift from the firststate to the second state upon detecting a change of the detectedvoltage polarity, and may be in the second state when the voltagedetected across the first and second terminals, across the third andfourth terminals, or across the electrical energy-storing component, maybe between the first and second voltage thresholds. The device may be inthe third state for a time interval. The power source may be an AC powersource and the power signal may be an AC power signal in sinewave formincluding a positive half-cycle and a negative half-cycle in a cycletime period, and wherein the time interval may be between an half-cycleperiod to a full-cycle period.

A multiway AC power switching system in a building may comprise an ACpower source for supplying an AC power signal; an AC load connectable tobe powered from the AC power source; a first switch in a first singleenclosure that may be dimensioned and shaped to be installed in a lightswitch outlet cavity; and a second switch in a second single enclosurethat may be dimensioned and shaped to be installed in a light switchoutlet cavity. Each of the switches may be stopping the AC power signalin an open state for and may be passing the AC power signal in a closedstate. Each of the switches may be connected in series for switching theAC power signal from the AC power source to the AC load, and the firstand second switches may be connected in parallel whereby each ofswitches may be configured to pass the AC power signal from the AC powersource to the AC load. The first switch may be located in a firstlocation and the second switch may be located in a second locationdistinct from the first location, and the two switches may be connectedvia two wires in a wall of the building. The first switch may furthercomprise a sensor for sensing the state of the second switch, and thesensor may be a voltage detector for detecting the voltage across thefirst switch terminals, such as for periodically sensing the state ofthe second switch. The state of the first switch may be determined basedon the state of the second switch, and the first switch may be operativeduring the closed state to stop the power signal for a time interval,whereby a voltage may be developed over the first switch that may besensed by the voltage detector, and the first switch may be powered bythe voltage developed across the second switch. The second switch mayfurther comprise a wireless transmitter for sending the state of thesecond switch, the first switch may further comprising a wirelessreceiver for receiving the state of the second switch from thetransmitter, and the first switch may shift to the received state of thesecond switch. Each of the switches may further comprise a visualindicator indicating the switch state, and each of the switches mayfurther comprise a tactile sensor for shifting between the states inresponse to a human touch or a human mechanical activation.

The device may comprise a firmware and a processor for executing thefirmware, and the processor may be coupled to the first control port foroutputting the first signal. The device may comprise a tactile sensorcoupled to the processor for outputting the first signal in response toa human touch. Alternatively or in addition, the device may be operativeto outputting the first signal in response to a remote command, such asusing an antenna for receiving signals over the air, and a wirelesstransceiver coupled to the antenna to receive the remote command from awireless network, where the processor may be coupled to the wirelesstransceiver to receive the remote command therefrom. The wirelessnetwork may be a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN), where thewireless transceiver may be a WPAN transceiver, and the antenna may be aWPAN antenna, such as according to, or based on, Bluetooth™ or IEEE802.15.1-2005 standards, or according to, or based on, Zigbee™, IEEE802.15.4-2003, or Z-Wave™ standards. The wireless network may be aWireless Local Area Network (WLAN), where the wireless transceiver maybe a WLAN transceiver, and the antenna may be a WLAN antenna, and theWLAN may be according to, or base on, IEEE 802.11-2012, IEEE 802.11a,IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, or IEEE 802.11ac. The wirelessnetwork may be over a licensed or unlicensed radio frequency band, suchas an Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) radio band. The wirelessnetwork may be a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN), where the wirelesstransceiver may be a WWAN transceiver, and the antenna may be a WWANantenna, such as a wireless broadband network, for example a WiMAXnetwork, wherein the antenna may be a WiMAX antenna and the wirelesstransceiver may be a WiMAX modem, and the WiMAX network may be accordingto, or based on, IEEE 802.16-2009. The wireless network may be acellular telephone network, where the antenna may be a cellular antenna,and the wireless transceiver may be a cellular modem, and the cellulartelephone network may be a Third Generation (3G) network that uses UMTSW-CDMA, UMTS HSPA, UMTS TDD, CDMA2000 1xRTT, CDMA2000 EV-DO, or GSMEDGE-Evolution, or may be a Fourth Generation (4G) network that usesHSPA+, Mobile WiMAX, LTE, LTE-Advanced, MBWA, or may be based on IEEE802.20-2008.

An apparatus or device having two terminals connectable in series to anAC power source and a load for switching an AC power signal from the ACpower source to the load is disclosed. The device may comprise in asingle enclosure a first terminal for connecting to the AC power source;a second terminal for connecting to the load; a firstvariable-resistance component comprising a first variable resistancebetween third and fourth terminals that may be controlled by a firstsignal at a fifth terminal; a second variable-resistance componentcomprising a second variable resistance between sixth and seventhterminals that may be controlled by a second signal at an eighthterminal; and a software and a processor for executing the software, theprocessor may be coupled to output the first and second signalsrespectively to the fifth and eighth terminals. The first and secondresistances may be coupled in series to pass the AC power signal betweenthe first and second terminals, and the device may only powered from theAC power signal. Further, the device may be configured to be in firstand second states, wherein in the first state the first and secondresistances may be controlled by the processor to conduct the AC powersignal between the first and second terminals to power the load, andwherein in the second state the first and second resistances may becontrolled by the processor to stop the AC power signal between thefirst and second terminals.

The device may further comprise a capacitor for storing DC power and forpowering the processor; the capacitor may be coupled in parallel to thesecond resistance to be charged from the AC power signal. In the firststate the device may be configured to be in third and fourth states,wherein in the third state, the capacitor may be charged from the ACpower signal, and in the fourth state, the processor may be powered bythe capacitor. The first resistance or the second resistance may consistof, or comprise, a switch, and the first component or second componentmay be based on, part of, or consist of, a relay, such as asolenoid-based electromagnetic relay, a Solid State Relay (SSR), a reedrelay, or a solid-state or semiconductor based relay.

The first component or second component may be based on, comprise, orconsist of, an electrical circuit that may comprise an open collectortransistor, an open drain transistor, a thyristor, a TRIAC, or anopto-isolator. The first component or the second component may be basedon, comprise, or consist of, an electrical circuit or a transistor. Thetransistor may be a field-effect power transistor, such as an N-channelenhanced mode standard level field-effect power transistor, wherein thethird connection or the sixth connection may be a ‘drain’ pin, thefourth connection or the seventh connection may be a ‘source’ pin, andthe fifth terminal or the eighth terminal may be a ‘gate’ pin.

The device may be comprising an AC/DC converter connected to be powerfed from the first and second terminals, and configured to supply a DCpower, and may further be comprising a capacitor connected to be chargedfrom the DC power. The device may further comprise a tactile sensorcoupled to the processor for shifting between the states in response toa human touch. Alternatively or in addition, the device may be furtheroperative to shifting between the states in response to a remote commandThe device may further comprise an antenna for receiving signals overthe air, a wireless transceiver coupled to the antenna to receive theremote command from a wireless network, and the processor may be coupledto the wireless transceiver to receive the remote command therefrom. Thewireless network may be a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) that maybe according to, or based on, Bluetooth™, the wireless transceiver maybe a WPAN transceiver, and the antenna may be a WPAN antenna. The WPANmay be based on, or according to, Bluetooth™ or IEEE 802.15.1-2005standards, and the WPAN may be a wireless control network that may beaccording to, or based on, Zigbee™, IEEE 802.15.4-2003, or Z-Wave™standards. Alternatively or in addition, the wireless network may be aWireless Local Area Network (WLAN) that may be according to, or base on,IEEE 802.11-2012, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE802.11n, or IEEE 802.11ac, the wireless transceiver may be a WLANtransceiver, and the antenna may be a WLAN antenna. Further, thewireless network may be over a licensed or unlicensed radio frequencyband, such as an Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) radio band.

Alternatively or in addition, the wireless network may be a WirelessWide Area Network (WWAN), the wireless transceiver may be a WWANtransceiver, and the antenna may be a WWAN antenna. The WWAN may be awireless broadband network such as a WiMAX network, wherein the antennamay be a WiMAX antenna, the wireless transceiver may be a WiMAX modem,and the WiMAX network may be according to, or based on, IEEE802.16-2009. Alternatively or in addition, the wireless network may be acellular telephone network, the antenna may be a cellular antenna, andthe wireless transceiver may be a cellular modem. The cellular telephonenetwork may be a Third Generation (3G) network that uses UMTS W-CDMA,UMTS HSPA, UMTS TDD, CDMA2000 1xRTT, CDMA2000 EV-DO, or GSMEDGE-Evolution, and the cellular telephone network may be a FourthGeneration (4G) network that uses HSPA+, Mobile WiMAX, LTE,LTE-Advanced, MBWA, or may be based on IEEE 802.20-2008.

The device may be further configured to substitute a light switch,wherein the single enclosure may be dimensioned and shaped to beinstalled in a light switch outlet cavity. The AC power may be domesticmains that may be nominally 120 VAC/60 Hz or 230 VAC/50 Hz. Further, theload may be a light source that may be an electric light source forconverting electrical energy into light, and may emit visible ornon-visible light for illumination or indication, the non-visible lightmay be infrared, ultraviolet, X-rays, or gamma rays. The electric lightsource may consist of, or comprise, a lamp, an incandescent lamp, a gasdischarge lamp, a fluorescent lamp, a Solid-State Lighting (SSL), aLight Emitting Diode (LED), an Organic LED (OLED), a polymer LED (PLED),or a laser diode.

A system is further disclosed for switching AC power from the AC powersource to the load, the system comprising the load and the device, andthe device may be connected in series between the AC power source andthe load for switching the AC power from the AC power source to theload. A device is disclosed having two terminals connectable in seriesto a power source and a load for switching a power signal from the powersource to the load. The device may comprise in a single enclosure afirst terminal for connecting to the power source; a second terminal forconnecting to the load; a variable-resistance component comprising aresistance between third and fourth terminals that may be controlled bya voltage at a fifth terminal, the third terminal coupled to the firstterminal and the fourth terminal coupled to the second terminal so thatthe power signal may be passed between the third and fourth terminals;and a sensor coupled to sense the voltage across the third and fourthterminals. The sensor may be coupled to the variable-resistancecomponent for producing a voltage to the fifth terminal in response tothe sensed voltage. The device may be operative to be powered from thepower signal, the device may further comprise a capacitor coupled to thethird and fourth terminals to be charged from the power signal. Thesensor may be coupled to be powered from the capacitor that may be anelectrolytic or a tantalum capacitor.

The device may be further operative to be first and second states,wherein in the first state the capacitor may be charged from the powersignal, and in the second state the capacitor may power the sensor. Thedevice may be used with a voltage threshold, wherein the sensor may be acomparator coupled to compare the voltage across the third and fourthterminals to the voltage threshold, and if the voltage across the thirdand fourth terminals may be below the voltage threshold, the voltage maybe supplied to the fifth terminal for increasing the resistance betweenthe third and fourth terminals. Further, if the voltage across the thirdand fourth terminals may be above the voltage threshold, the voltage maybe supplied to the fifth terminal for reducing the resistance betweenthe third and fourth terminals.

The variable-resistance component may be based on, or consist of, anelectrical circuit or a transistor, that may be a field-effect powertransistor, where the third terminal may be the ‘drain’ pin, the fourthterminal may be the ‘source’ pin, and the fifth terminal may be the‘gate’ pin. The field-effect power transistor may be an N-channelenhanced mode standard level field-effect power transistor.

The above summary is not an exhaustive list of all aspects of thepresent invention. Indeed, the inventor contemplates that his inventionincludes all systems and methods that can be practiced from all suitablecombinations and derivatives of the various aspects summarized above, aswell as those disclosed in the detailed description below andparticularly pointed out in the claims filed with the application. Suchcombinations have particular advantages not specifically recited in theabove summary.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is herein described, by way of non-limiting examples only,with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like designationsdenote like elements. Understanding that these drawings only provideinformation concerning typical embodiments of the invention and are nottherefore to be considered limiting in scope:

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a prior-art wiringof a typical lighting system in a building;

FIG. 1a illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a prior-art wiringof a multiway switching lighting system in a building;

FIG. 2 depicts schematically a light switch;

FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic electrical block diagram of an exemplaryswitch block in a switch device;

FIG. 3a illustrates schematically the states of a switch device;

FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic electrical block diagram of an exemplaryDC power supply block in a switch device;

FIG. 5a illustrates schematically the leakage current flow in a switchdevice;

FIG. 5b illustrates a schematic electrical block diagram of part of anexemplary control block in a switch device;

FIG. 5c illustrates schematically the load and charge currents flow in aswitch device in a positive half-cycle state;

FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic electrical block diagram of part of anexemplary control block in a switch device;

FIG. 6a illustrates schematically the load current flow in a switchdevice in a negative half-cycle state;

FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic electrical block diagram of part of anexemplary control block in a switch device;

FIG. 8 illustrates a schematic waveform diagram (not scaled) of voltagesin a switch device;

FIG. 9 illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a wiring of amultiway switching lighting system in a building;

FIG. 9a illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a multiwayswitching lighting system in a building;

FIG. 10 illustrates a schematic electrical diagram of a powering controlof part of a switching device; and

FIG. 11 illustrates a schematic electrical block diagram of part of anexemplary voltage sensing block in a switch device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The principles and operation of an apparatus according to the presentinvention may be understood with reference to the figures and theaccompanying description wherein similar components appearing indifferent figures are denoted by identical reference numerals. Thedrawings and descriptions are conceptual only. In actual practice, asingle component can implement one or more functions; alternatively orin addition, each function can be implemented by a plurality ofcomponents and devices. In the figures and descriptions, identicalreference numerals indicate those components that are common todifferent embodiments or configurations. Identical numerical references(even in the case of using different suffix, such as 5, 5 a, 5 b and 5c) refer to functions or actual devices that are either identical,substantially similar, or having similar functionality. It will bereadily understood that the components of the present invention, asgenerally described and illustrated in the figures herein, could bearranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations.Thus, the following more detailed description of the embodiments of theapparatus, system, and method of the present invention, as representedin the figures herein, is not intended to limit the scope of theinvention, as claimed, but is merely representative of embodiments ofthe invention. It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,”and “the” herein include plural referents unless the context clearlydictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “a componentsurface” includes reference to one or more of such surfaces. By the term“substantially” it is meant that the recited characteristic, parameter,or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations orvariations, including for example, tolerances, measurement error,measurement accuracy limitations and other factors known to those ofskill in the art, may occur in amounts that do not preclude the effectthe characteristic was intended to provide.

FIG. 3 shows an electrical schematic diagram 30 where the switch 13 issubstituted with, or added to, a switch device 31, connecting the load12 via the two terminals 15 a and 15 b to the AC power source 11. Theswitch device 31 comprises a switch block 32, through which a current isswitched to the load 12. The switch block 32 is connected (or coupled)between the terminals 15 a and 15 b, and is based on two electricallycontrolled switches connected in series. In one example, one of theswitches is SW1 33, actuated under a control via a line (or connection)34. The other switch may be based on an MOSFET Q1 36, controlled via aline (or connection) 35 connected to a ‘gate’ terminal. Further, a diodeD1 37 is connected in parallel to ‘drain’ and ‘source’ terminals oftransistor Q1 36. When the two switches SW1 33 and Q1 36 are ‘closed’ orconductive, a current is flowing to the load 12, and in the case of alamp, the lamp 12 illuminates. If one of the switches is ‘open’ ornon-conductive, no current is flowing to the load 12 rendering the load12 non-operative. A control block 38 is connected to control the switchblock 32, and by applying control signals to the line 34 to control theswitch SW1 33, and to the line 35 to control the MOSFET Q1 36, sets theswitch device 31 state, to turn ‘on’ or ‘off’ the load 12.

Any component that is designed to open (breaking, interrupting), close(making), or change one or more electrical circuits may serve as, orreplace, the switch SW1 33 or the transistor Q1 36, typically under sometype of an electrical control. Preferably, the switch is anelectromechanical device with one or more sets of electrical contactshaving two or more states. The switch may be a ‘normally open’ type,requiring actuation for closing the contacts, may be ‘normally closed’type, where actuation affects breaking the circuit, or may be achangeover switch, having both types of contacts arrangements. Achangeover switch may be either a ‘make-before-break’ or‘break-before-make’ types. The switch contacts may have one or morepoles and one or more throws. Common switch contacts arrangementsinclude Single-Pole-Single-Throw (SPST), Single-Pole-Double-Throw(SPDT), Double-Pole-Double-Throw (DPDT), Double-Pole-Single-Throw(DPST), and Single-Pole-Changeover (SPCO). A switch may be electricallyor mechanically actuated.

A relay is a non-limiting example of an electrically operated switch. Arelay may be a latching relay, that has two relaxed states (bistable),and when the current is switched off, the relay remains in its laststate. This is achieved with a solenoid operating a ratchet and cammechanism, or by having two opposing coils with an over-center spring orpermanent magnet to hold the armature and contacts in position while thecoil is relaxed, or with a permanent core. A relay may be anelectromagnetic relay, that typically consists of a coil of wire wrappedaround a soft iron core, an iron yoke which provides a low reluctancepath for magnetic flux, a movable iron armature, and one or more sets ofcontacts. The armature is hinged to the yoke and mechanically linked toone or more sets of moving contacts. It is held in place by a spring sothat when the relay is de-energized there is an air gap in the magneticcircuit. In this condition, one of the two sets of contacts in the relaypictured is closed, and the other set is open. A reed relay is a reedswitch enclosed in a solenoid, and the switch has a set of contactsinside an evacuated or inert gas-filled glass tube, which protects thecontacts against atmospheric concision.

Alternatively or in addition, a relay may be a Solid State Relay (SSR),where a solid-state based component functioning as a relay, withouthaving any moving parts. Alternatively or in addition, a switch may beimplemented using an electrical circuit or component. For example, anopen collector (or open drain) based circuit may be used. Further, anopto-isolator (a.k.a. optocoupler, photocoupler, or optical isolator)may be used to provide isolated power transfer. Further, a thyristorsuch as a Triode for Alternating Current (TRIAC) may be used fortriggering the power. In one example, the switch SW1 33 in based on, orconsists of, a TRIAC Part Number BTA06 available from SGS-ThomsonMicroelectronics is used, described in the data sheet “BTA06 T/D/S/ABTB06 T/D/S/A—Sensitive Gate Triacs' published by SGS-ThomsonMicroelectronics march 1995, which is incorporated in its entirety forall purposes as if fully set forth herein.

In addition, the switch unit may be based on a transistor. Thetransistor may be a Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor(MOSFET, MOS-FET, or MOS FET), commonly used for amplifying or switchingelectronic signals. The MOSFET transistor is a four-terminal device withsource (S), gate (G), drain (D), and body (B) terminals, where the body(or substrate) of the MOSFET is often connected to the source terminal,making it a three-terminal device like other field-effect transistors.In an enhancement mode MOSFETs, a voltage drop across the oxide inducesa conducting channel between the source and drain contacts via the fieldeffect. The term “enhancement mode” refers to the increase ofconductivity with an increase in oxide field that adds carriers to thechannel, also referred to as the inversion layer. The channel cancontain electrons (called an nMOSFET or nMOS), or holes (called apMOSFET or pMOS), opposite in type to the substrate, so nMOS is madewith a p-type substrate, and pMOS with an n-type substrate (see articleon semiconductor devices). In one example, the transistor Q1 36 is anN-channel enhancement mode standard level field-effect transistor thatfeatures very low on-state resistance. Such a transistor Q1 36 may bebased on, or consists of, TrenchMOS transistor Part Number BUK7524-55from Philips Semiconductors, described in the Product Specificationsfrom Philips Semiconductors “TrenchMOS™ transistor Standard level FETBUK7524-55” Rev 1.000 dated January 1997, which is incorporated in itsentirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. In this case,the diode D1 37 is integrated in the transistor Q1 36 case.

As shown in a state diagram 25 in FIG. 3a , the switch device 31 may bein one of three distinct states, under the control of the control block38. In the state “SW1 OPEN” 21 the SW1 switch 33 is controlled by thecontrol port 34 to be open, thus blocking any current flow through it.In this case, the lamp 12 is turned ‘off’ as no current (except leakagecurrent) is flowing from the power source 11 to the lamp 12. In states“SW1 CLOSED—POSITIVE SIDE” 22 and “SW1 CLOSED—NEGATIVE SIDE” 23 the SW1switch 33 is controlled by the control port 34 to be closed, thusallowing current flow through it. In this case, the lamp 12 is turned‘on’ as AC current is flowing from the power source 11 to the lamp 12.The state “SW1 CLOSED—POSITIVE SIDE” 22 is effective when the voltagedetected between the switch device 31 terminals 15 a and 15 b ispositive: The voltage at the terminal 15 a is higher than the voltage atthe terminal 15 b, which occurs during half of the AC power cycle(‘positive half-cycle’). Similarly, the state “SW1 CLOSED—NEGATIVE SIDE”23 is effective when the voltage detected between the switch device 31terminals 15 a and 15 b is negative: The voltage at the terminal 15 a islower than the voltage at the terminal 15 b, which occurs during theother half of the AC power cycle (‘negative half-cycle’). Upon sensingthe opening of SW1 33, regardless of the existing switch 31 states, theswitch device 31 reverts to the ‘SW1 OPEN’ state 21, as indicated bymows 27 a and 27 b. Upon sensing closing of the switch SW1 33, thevoltage at the terminals 15 a and 15 b is detected. In the case apositive voltage is detected, the switch device 31 shifts to a state“SW1 CLOSED—POSITIVE SIDE” 22 as shown by an arrow 26 a, and remains inthis state throughout the positive half-cycle, as long as positivevoltage is detected. In the case a negative voltage is detected, theswitch device 31 shifts (arrow 28 b) to the “SW1 CLOSED—NEGATIVE SIDE”state 23, and remains in this state throughout the negative half-cycle,as long as negative voltage is detected. Similarly, in the case theswitch is in “SW1 OPEN” state 21 and a negative voltage is detected, theswitch device 31 shifts to the state “SW1 CLOSED—NEGATIVE SIDE” 23 asshown by an arrow 26 b, and remains in this state throughout thenegative half-cycle, as long as a negative voltage is detected. In thecase a positive voltage is detected, the switch device 31 shifts (arrow28 a) to the “SW1 CLOSED—POSITIVE SIDE” state 22, and remains in thisstate throughout the positive half-cycle, as long as a positive voltageis detected.

The control block 38 and other electronic circuits (such as digitallogic circuits) in the switch device 31 may require a low DC voltage foroperation, such as 5 VDC or 3.3 VDC. The required DC voltage is providedby a DC power supply block 41 shown in FIG. 4 as part of an electronicschematic diagram 40. The DC power supply block 41 provides a regulatedDC voltage designated Vc via a line 45 (for example 5 VDC or 3.3 VDC),where the internal low level return (or ground) is a line 46 connectedto the terminal 15 b. The DC power supply block 41 comprises a diode D242 connected between the Vc output line 45 and the connection betweenthe switch SW1 33 and the transistor Q1 36 drain connection. Further,the DC power supply includes an AC/DC converter 44 connected to bepowered from the AC power source 11 via the terminals 15 a and 15 b, andhaving a DC output feeding the Vc line 45. Further, the DC power supplyblock 41 includes a capacitor C1 43 used to supply, regulate, filter,and stabilize, the Vc line 45 output.

The AC/DC converter 44 is used for converting the AC voltage developedon the switch device 31 terminals into the required low-level stabilizedDC voltage or voltages, commonly suitable for power the digitalcircuits, such as 3.3 VDC, 5 VDC, or 12 VDC. Power supplies commonlyinclude voltage stabilizers for ensuring that the output remains withincertain limits under various load conditions, and typically employs atransformer, silicon diode bridge rectifier, reservoir capacitor andvoltage regulator IC. Switched mode regulator supplies also typicallyinclude an inductor. The converter 44 may include a boost converter,such as a buck boost converter, charge pump, inverter and regulators asknown in the art, as required for conversion of one form of electricalpower to another desired form and voltage. The capacitor C1 43 may be apolarized capacitor, such as an electrolytic capacitor or tantalumcapacitor. An electrolytic capacitor is a capacitor that uses anelectrolyte (an ionic conducting liquid) as one of its plates to achievea larger capacitance per unit volume than other types. The largecapacitance of electrolytic capacitors makes them particularly suitablefor passing or bypassing low-frequency signals and storing large amountsof energy. A tantalum capacitor is a type of electrolytic capacitor, acomponent of electronic circuits. It typically consists of a pallet oftantalum metal as an anode, covered by an insulating oxide layer thatforms the dielectric, surrounded by conductive material as a cathode.The tantalum capacitor distinguishes itself from other capacitors inhaving a high capacitance per volume and weight. Tantalum capacitorshave lower equivalent series resistance (ESR), lower leakage, and higheroperating temperature than other electrolytic capacitors. In oneexample, the capacitor C1 43 is a tantalum capacitor having a value of1000 microfarad (μF).

A schematic diagram 50 in FIG. 5a shows the switch device 31 during the“SW1 OPEN” state 21. The switch SW1 33 is controlled via its controlport 34 to be open, so no current is flowing through the switch block32. In this state a leakage current is flowing through the AC/DCConverter 44 in the DC Power Supply block 41, as shown in dashed line51. The AC/DC converter 44 outputs the DC voltage Vc at port 45, andcharges the capacitor Cl 43.

A schematic diagram 55 in FIG. 5b relates to the switch device 31operations during the state “SW1 CLOSED—POSITIVE SIDE” 22. The switchSW1 33 is controlled via its control port 34 to be closed, allowingcurrent flow through it. Further, the transistor Q1 36 is controlled viaits control port 35 to be conductive, allowing current to flow from thepower source 11 to the load 12 via the switch block 32, through theconductive state of the transistor Q1 36 and the closed switch SW1 33.The conductivity of transistor Q1 36 controlled by the control port 35is determined by closing the loop control in the control block 38, thatcomprises a regulator U1 58, a comparator U2 57, and a monostable U3 56.The regulator U1 58 output a regulated and stabilized reference voltagelevel Vcmax, which relates to the maximum value the Vc line 45 voltageis designed to be, such as Vc plus the forward voltage over a diode D242. The comparator U2 57 compares the Vcmax from the regulator 58 outputto the actual value of the Vc line 45 voltage. In the case the Vc line45 voltage level is below the maximum value Vcmax, the comparator U2 57control the monostable U4 56 a outputting a control signal over thecontrol line 35, causing the transistor Q1 36 not to be conductive, thusno current flows through the transistor Q1 36 causing the voltage acrossthe transistor Q1 36 (Vds) to follow the AC voltage across the terminals15 a and 15 b, and thus charging the capacitor C1 43 via the diode D2 42until the voltage across it reaches Vcmax. In the case the Vc line 45voltage level reaches and is above the maximum value Vcmax, thecomparator U2 57 activates a monostable for a short time (e.g., 10milliseconds-10 ms) outputting a control signal over control line 35,causing the transistor Q1 36 to be conduct, lowering the voltage acrossthe transistor Q1 36 (Vds) to be Iload*Rds(on), and disconnecting fromthe DC power supply circuit 41 by the diode D2 42. The closed controlloop causes the capacitor C1 43 to be charged up to around the Vcmaxminus the voltage drop across the diode D2 42. While schematic diagram55 in FIG. 5b shows the switch device 31 during “SW1 OPEN” state 21,FIG. 5c shows a schematic electrical diagram 55 a of the current flowsthat relates to the switch device 31 operations during the state “SW1CLOSED—POSITIVE SIDE” 22. The Iload 59 a dashed line shows the maincurrent flow through the switch block 32 of the switch device 31, fromthe AC source 11 to the lamp 12. The Icharge 59 b dashed line shows thecurrent flow that supplies the Vc line 45 voltage and the charging ofthe capacitor C1 43, under the control of the closed control loop in thecontrol block 38.

In one example, the Capacitor C1 43 is charged for a short time duringthe start of the positive half-cycle, and store enough energy to DCpower the switch 31 electronic circuits during at least one whole cycle,until recharged at the beginning of the next cycle. In suchconfiguration, the monostable may be designed to provide timing of abouta full AC power cycle, such as 20 milliseconds in 50 Hz system and 16.6milliseconds in 60 Hz system. A timing diagram 80 of such configurationis shown in FIG. 8. A graph 81 shows the sinewave waveform of the ACvoltage from the AC power source 11, where a positive half-cycle startsat a time t0 83 a (known as a zero-cross point), and a negativehalf-cycle starts at a time t1 83 b (another zero-cross point), followedby another cycle including a positive half-cycle that starts at a timet2 83 c and a negative half-cycle starts at a time t3 83 d. The Vcvoltage at line 45 is shown as a graph 82. At the beginning of thepositive half-cycle, the voltage Vc is low, as power has been consumedfrom the capacitor C1 43 over the former cycle. At this point, thecontrol 35 sets the transistor Q1 36 to be non-conductive, hence thevoltage upon it (Vds) is raising substantially following the AC voltageshown in the graph 81 (minus the voltage drop on the switch SW1 33terminals, assumed to be negligible). At a time t4 83 e, the voltage Vcreaches Vcmax as detected by the comparator U2 57, and at this point thetransistor Q1 36 is controlled to start conducting for a time perioddetermined by the monostable U3 56, and thus the capacitor C1 43charging is stopped. At this point the voltage Vc reduces with time, aspower is consumed from the capacitor C1 43 for power feeding the switch31 electronic circuits. Preferably, the monostable U3 56 keeps thetransistor Q1 36 conductive via the control line 35 until the start ofthe next positive half-cycle, at time t2 83 c, hence the monostable settiming may be higher than a time period calculated as t1-t4, and lowerthan, or equal to, a time period calculated as t2-t4, to ensure that theswitch 31 is at the negative half-cycle at the end of this period. Bysynchronizing to charge the capacitor C1 43 at times t0 83 a and t2 83 cthat are near or at the sinewave signal zero crossing, when the loadpower consumption is zero or minimal, there is minimal affect on theload, and for example lamp flickering is avoided.

FIGS. 6 and 6 a respectively shows schematic electrical diagrams 60 and60 a that relates to the switch device 31 operations during the state“SW1 CLOSED—NEGATIVE SIDE” 23. The switch SW1 33 is controlled via itscontrol port 34 to be closed, allowing current flow through it. Thetransistor Q1 36 is generally controlled to conduct most of the time,and as shown in FIG. 6a , the load current Iload is flowing via thediode D1 37, as illustrated by an Iload flow dashed line 61 b, producinga voltage drop that is the diode forward voltage. Alternatively or inaddition, the load current Iload is flowing via the transistor Q1 36being conductive and thus presenting a low affective resistance Rds(on),as illustrated by an Iload flow dashed line 61 a, producing a voltagedrop that is Iload*Rds(on). A detection of the cycle status, beingshifted to positive or staying in the negative half-cycle may beexecuted in the control block 38 using a comparator U5 57 a and amonostable U4 56 a. The comparator U5 57 a checks the voltage at thetransistor Q1 36 drain terminal. As long as negative voltage is detected(e.g., the forward voltage on the diode D1 37), the monostable istriggering the transistor Q1 36 via its ‘gate’ line 35 for a short time(such as 400 microseconds) to be non-conductive. Upon detecting a shiftto a positive voltage, the switch shifts to the state “SW1CLOSED—POSITIVE SIDE” 22.

FIG. 7 shows a schematic electrical diagram 70 illustrating the controlof the switch SW1 33. The control block 38 comprises a processor 71,coupled to control the switch SW1 33 state via the control line 34. Theprocessor 71 determines when to close the switch SW1 33 hence to shiftthe switch device 31 to the state “SW1 OPEN” 21 turning the lamp 12‘on’, and when to open the switch SW1 33 hence to shift the switchdevice 31 to one of the states “SW1 CLOSED” 22 or 23.

In one example, the switch device 31 may be locally actuated, forexample by a person, using a tactile sensor, being sensitive to force orpressure, or being sensitive to a touch by an object, typically a humantouch. For example, two tactile sensors 74 a and 74 b are shownconnected to the processor 71. A tactile sensor is commonly based onpiezoresistive, piezoelectric, capacitive, or elastoresistive sensor.Further, a tactile sensor may be based on a conductive rubber, a leadzirconate titanate (PZT) material, a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)material, or a metallic capacitive element. A sensor may include anarray of tactile sensor elements, and may provide an ‘image’ of acontact surface, distribution of pressures, or pattern of forces. Atactile sensor may be a tactile switch where the touch sensing is usedto trigger a switch, which may be a capacitance touch switch, where thehuman body capacitance increases a sensed capacitance, or may be aresistance touch switch, where the human body part such as a finger (orany other conductive object) conductivity is sensed between twoconductors (e.g., two pieces of metal). Examples of touch switches aredisclosed in PCT International Publication No. WO 2014/076695 to Ziv,entitled: “Modular Touch Switch”, and in PCT International PublicationNo. WO 2012/083380 to Juhasz et al., entitled: “Touch Switch”, which areboth incorporated in their entirety for all purposes as if fully setforth herein.

Alternatively or in addition, the switch device 31 may be activatedremotely. For example, the control block 38 may comprise a wirelesstransceiver 72 for non-wired communication over a network (e.g., usingan antenna 73), for receiving ‘on’ and ‘off’ commands over the air via anetwork. The network may be any wireless network, and may be a controlnetwork (such as ZigBee or Z-Wave), a home network, a WPAN (WirelessPersonal Area Network), a WLAN (wireless Local Area Network), a WWAN(Wireless Wide Area Network), or a cellular network.

Similarly, other network may be used to cover another geographical scaleor coverage, such as NFC, PAN, LAN, MAN, or WAN type. The network mayuse any type of modulation, such as Amplitude Modulation (AM), aFrequency Modulation (FM), or a Phase Modulation (PM).

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one or more types ofwireless communication signals and/or systems, for example, RadioFrequency (RF), Infra-Red (IR), Frequency-Division Multiplexing (FDM),Orthogonal FDM (OFDM), Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM), Time-DivisionMultiple Access (TDMA), Extended TDMA (E-TDMA), General Packet RadioService (GPRS), extended GPRS, Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA),Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA 2000, single-carrier CDMA, multi-carrierCDMA, Multi-Carrier Modulation (MDM), Discrete Multi-Tone (DMT),Bluetooth®, Global Positioning System (GPS), Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, ZigBee™,Ultra-Wideband (UWB), Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), 2G,2.5G, 3G, 3.5G, Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), or thelike. Further, a wireless communication may be based on wirelesstechnologies that are described in Chapter 20: “Wireless Technologies”of the publication number 1-587005-001-3 by Cisco Systems, Inc. (7/99)entitled: “Internetworking Technologies Handbook”, which is incorporatedin its entirety for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.

Alternatively or in addition, the switch device 31 may comprise a motiondetector or an occupancy sensor. A motion detector is a device formotion detection, that contains a physical mechanism or electronicsensor that quantifies motion commonly in order alert the user of thepresence of a moving object within the field of view, or in generalconfirming a change in the position of an object relative to itssurroundings or the change in the surroundings relative to an object.This detection can be achieved by both mechanical and electronicmethods. In addition to discrete, on or off motion detection, it canalso consist of magnitude detection that can measure and quantify thestrength or speed of this motion or the object that created it. Motioncan be typically detected by sound (acoustic sensors), opacity (opticaland infrared sensors and video image processors), geomagnetism (magneticsensors, magnetometers), a reflection of the transmitted energy(infrared laser radar, ultrasonic sensors, and microwave radar sensors),electromagnetic induction (inductive-loop detectors), and vibration(triboelectric, seismic, and inertia-switch sensors). Acoustic sensorsare based on: Electret effect, inductive coupling, capacitive coupling,triboelectric effect, piezoelectric effect, and fiber optictransmission. Radar intrusion sensors usually have the lowest rate offalse alarms. In one example, an electronic motion detector contains amotion sensor that transforms the detection of motion into an electricalsignal. This can be achieved by measuring optical or acoustical changesin the field of view. Most motion detectors can detect up to 15-25meters (50-80 ft). An occupancy sensor is typically a motion detectorthat is integrated with hardware or software-based timing device. Forexample, it can be used for preventing illumination of unoccupiedspaces, by sensing when motion has stopped for a specified time period,in order to trigger a light extinguishing signal.

One basic form of mechanical motion detection is in the form of amechanically-actuated switch or trigger. For electronic motiondetection, passive or active sensors may be used, where four types ofsensors commonly used in motion detectors spectrum: Passive infraredsensors (passive) which looks for body heat, while no energy is emittedfrom the sensor, ultrasonic (active) sensors that send out pulses ofultrasonic waves and measures the reflection off a moving object,microwave (active) sensor that sends out microwave pulses and measuresthe reflection off a moving object, and tomographic detector (active)which senses disturbances to radio waves as they travel through an areasurrounded by mesh network nodes. Alternatively or in addition, motioncan be electronically identified using optical detection or acousticaldetection. Infrared light or laser technology may be used for opticaldetection. Motion detection devices, such as PIR (Passive InfraredSensor) motion detectors, have a sensor that detects a disturbance inthe infrared spectrum, such as a person or an animal.

Many motion detectors use a combination of different technologies. Thesedual-technology detectors benefit with each type of sensor, and falsealarms are reduced. Placement of the sensors can be strategicallymounted so as to lessen the chance of pets activating alarms. Often, PIRtechnology will be paired with another model to maximize accuracy andreduce energy usage. PIR draws less energy than microwave detection, andso many sensors are calibrated so that when the PIR sensor is tripped,it activates a microwave sensor. If the latter also picks up anintruder, then the alarm is sounded. As interior motion detectors do not‘see’ through windows or walls, motion-sensitive outdoor lighting isoften recommended to enhance comprehensive efforts to protect aproperty. Some application for motion detection are (a) detection ofunauthorized entry, (b) detection of cessation of occupancy of an areato extinguish lights and (c) detection of a moving object which triggersa camera to record subsequent events.

While exampled above regarding switching the lamp 12 from a singlelocation by a single switch 31 based on the typical arrangement 10 shownin FIG. 1, a multiway switching may equally be used based on the aboveprinciples, used in the multiway switching lighting system 16 shown inFIG. 1a . As illustrated in a circuit arrangement 90 shown in FIG. 9,the switches 17 a and 17 b are substituted with respectively switchingassemblies 91 a and 91 b. The switch assembly 91 a includes hard wiredconnection (non-switched) between the terminal 15 c and the terminal 15e (similar to state ‘2’ relating to switch 17 a). In addition, a switchdevice 93 is connected between terminals 15 d and 15 e. Similarly, theswitch assembly 91 b includes hard wired connection (non-switched)between the terminal 15 h and the terminal 15 f (similar to state ‘1’relating to switch 17 b). In addition, a switch device 92 is connectedbetween terminals 15 g and 15 f. As shown, there is no need for anyretrofit or any other modification of the wiring infrastructure, otherthan replacing the switches 17 a and 17 b with the respective switchingassemblies 91 a and 91 b. An electrical circuit 90 a formed byintroducing the two switching assemblies 91 a and 91 b is shown in FIG.9a , where the two switch devices 92 and 93 are connected in parallel.In such configuration, by causing any of the switching devices 92 or 93to be activated (closed), current will flow and will turn the lamp 12‘on’. Only when both switching devices 92 and 93 are open(non-conductive), the lamp 12 will be turned ‘off’. The switch device 92or the switch device 93, or both, may include, may be based on, or mayconsists of, the switch device 31 described above.

In one example, such as in the multiway arrangement shown in FIG. 9a , aswitch device 31 may need to detect that it is connected in sucharrangement. Such detecting may be based on voltage level sensing, suchas by using a voltage sensing block 117 shown in an arrangement 110 inFIG. 11. The voltage sensing block 117 comprises a diode bridgeconsisting of a diode D3 111 a, diode D4 111 b, diode D5 111 c, anddiode D6 111 d, connected to be AC power fed as known in the art to theterminal 15 a via a line 112 a and to the terminal 15 b via a line 112b. An output-rectified voltage on lines 115 a and 115 b is sensed by acomparator U6 113, having an output line 116. The comparator U6 113compares the rectified voltage to a pre-set voltage set by a regulatorU7 114, and indicates when the rectified voltage is above a setthreshold determined by the regulator U7 114. In one example, thevoltage sensing by the voltage sensing block 117 may be performedperiodically (such as every 100 milliseconds) when the switch 31 is inone of the ‘SW1 CLOSED’ states 22 or 23. The voltage-sensing block 117may be integrated with the switch device 92, with the switch device 93,or both. In the case the switch 93 is in the ‘SW1 OPEN’ state 21, thevoltage across its terminals is the same, or substantially the same, asthe AC source 11 supplied voltage. In the case the switch 93 is in oneof the ‘SW1 CLOSED’ states 22 or 23, the voltage across its terminals issubstantially lower, resulting from the voltage drop upon the closedswitch SW1 33 (designed to be minimal or negligible), and the voltagedrop across transistor Q1 36 ‘drain’ and ‘source’ terminals, whichtypically (or never) exceeds the Vcmax voltage level. Assuming theregulator U7 114 output reference voltage is much higher than the Vcmaxlevel, the line 116 output detects wherein a parallel connected switchis in the ‘SW1 OPEN’ state 21 or one of the ‘SW1 CLOSED’ states 22 or23. As such, the switch device 92 may sense the state of a parallelconnected switch device 93, and thus may follow its state. In the casethe switch device 92 is commanded to one of the ‘SW1 CLOSED’ state 22 or23, the lamp 12 will be turned on, regardless of the switch device 93state. Similarly, in the case the switch device 93 is commanded to oneof the ‘SW1 CLOSED’ state 22 or 23, the lamp 12 will be turned on,regardless of the switch device 92 state. Hence, each of the switchdevices 92 or 93, being connected in parallel, may turn the lamp 12 to‘on’ state. In the case the switch device 93 shifts to the ‘SW1 OPEN’state 21, the higher voltage will be dropped across its terminals, andwill be sensed by the voltage sensing block 117 in switch device 92.Upon such sensing, the switch device 92 will follow by shifting to the‘SW1 OPEN’ state 21 as well, thus turning the lamp 12 to ‘off’ state, asboth switch devices 92 and 92 are now in the ‘SW1 OPEN’ state 21.

In one example, the lamp 12 may be of high resistance and only beconsuming a small amount of power. In another example, the electroniccircuits of the switch 31 consume a lot of electrical power. In bothcases, the above scheme may not provide the needed power for fulloperation of the switch 31 and all of its internal power consumingcomponents, as may be sensed by measuring the Vc voltage and determiningit to be under a pre-set threshold. In this case, the switch 31 mayshift to a ‘low power’ mode, where the power consumption of the internalswitch 31 circuits is lowered, aimed to only use the essential circuitsand to provide a minimal but essential functionalities. Such a scheme100 of a switch 31 capable of low power mode is shown in FIG. 10. A load#1 102 represents a non-essential power-consuming circuitry, powered viaa switch SW2 101 (which may be similar or of the same type of the switchSW1 33) from the Vc line 45. Upon initiation of a low-power mode, theprocessor 71 controls the switch SW2 101 via a control line or port 104a to open and thus stops the powering of the load #1 102, hence reducingthe total DC power consumed by the switch 31. While exampled above usinga single load #1 102, and a single switch SW2 101, it is apparent thatmultiple loads may be similarly controlled, via one or more switches,having a single or multiple control lines from the processor 71.Similarly, a load such as load #2 103 (or multiple loads) may bedirectly controlled, such as by a control line 104 b, to benon-operative or partially operative, in order to reduce their powerconsumption. For example, the load #2 103 may be the wirelesstransceiver 72 controlled by the processor to transmit less RF power forsaving power. In another example, the load #1 102 is a light forbacklighting the switch 31 panel, which can be dimmed or turned off bythe control of the processor 71 in low-power mode.

While exampled above regarding switching power to the lamp 12, any otherelectrical load may be equally applicable. For example, the load mayconsists of, or include, an electrical outlet, fans, pumps, heaters, orany other electrically powered home, commercial, or industrialappliance. The home appliance may be major or small appliance, and itsmain function may be food storage or preparation, cleaning (such asclothes cleaning), or temperature control (environmental, food or water)such as heating or cooling. Examples of appliances are water heaters,HVAC systems, air conditioner, heaters, washing machines, clothesdryers, vacuum cleaner, microwave oven, electric mixers, stoves, ovens,refrigerators, freezers, food processors, dishwashers, food blenders,beverage makers such as coffeemakers and iced-tea makers, answeringmachines, telephone sets, home cinema systems, HiFi systems, CD and DVDplayers, induction cookers, electric furnaces, trash compactors, anddehumidifiers. The field unit may consist of, or be integrated with, abattery-operated portable electronic device such as a notebook/laptopcomputer, a media player (e.g., MP3 based or video player), a cellularphone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), an image processing device(e.g., a digital camera or a video recorder), and/or any other handheldcomputing devices, or a combination of any of these devices.

The lamp 12 may be any electrical sources of illumination commonly use agas, a plasma (such as in an arc and fluorescent lamps), an electricalfilament, or Solid-State Lighting (SSL), where semiconductors are used.An SSL may be a Light-Emitting Diode (LED), an Organic LED (OLED), orPolymer LED (PLED). Further, an SSL may be a laser diode, which is alaser whose active medium is a semiconductor, commonly based on a diodeformed from a p-n junction and powered by the injected electric current.The lamp 12 may be a common light source, sometimes referred to as‘bulb’, and may be an arc lamp, a Fluorescent lamp, a gas-dischargelamp, or an incandescent light. An arc lamp (a.k.a. arc light) is thegeneral term for a class of lamps that produce light by an electric arc(also called a voltaic arc). Such a lamp consists of two electrodes,first made from carbon but typically made today of tungsten, which areseparated by a gas. The type of lamp is often named by the gas containedin the bulb; including Neon, Argon, Xenon, Krypton, Sodium, metalHalide, and Mercury, or by the type of electrode as in carbon-arc lamps.The common fluorescent lamp may be regarded as a low-pressure mercuryarc lamp.

Gas-discharge lamps are a family of artificial light sources thatgenerate light by sending an electrical discharge through an ionized gas(plasma). Typically, such lamps use a noble gas (argon, neon, kryptonand xenon) or a mixture of these gases and most lamps are filled withadditional materials, like mercury, sodium, and metal halides. Inoperation the gas is ionized, and free electrons, accelerated by theelectrical field in the tube, collide with gas and metal atoms. Someelectrons in the atomic orbitals of these atoms are excited by thesecollisions to a higher energy state. When the excited atom falls back toa lower energy state, it emits a photon of a characteristic energy,resulting in infrared, visible light, or ultraviolet radiation. Somelamps convert the ultraviolet radiation to visible light with afluorescent coating on the inside of the lamp's glass surface. Thefluorescent lamp is perhaps the best known gas-discharge lamp.

A fluorescent lamp (a.k.a. fluorescent tube) is a gas-discharge lampthat uses electricity to excite mercury vapor, and is commonlyconstructed as a tube coated with phosphor containing low pressuremercury vapor that produces white light. The excited mercury atomsproduce short-wave ultraviolet light that then causes a phosphor tofluoresce, producing visible light. A fluorescent lamp convertselectrical power into useful light more efficiently than an incandescentlamp. Lower energy cost typically offsets the higher initial cost of thelamp. A neon lamp (a.k.a. Neon glow lamp) is a gas discharge lamp thattypically contains neon gas at a low pressure in a glass capsule. Only athin region adjacent to the electrodes glows in these lamps, whichdistinguishes them from the much longer and brighter neon tubes used forpublic signage.

An incandescent light bulb (a.k.a. incandescent lamp or incandescentlight globe) produces light by heating a filament wire to a hightemperature until it glows. The hot filament is protected from oxidationin the air commonly with a glass enclosure that is filled with inert gasor evacuated. In a halogen lamp, filament evaporation is prevented by achemical process that redeposits metal vapor onto the filament,extending its life. The light bulb is supplied with electrical currentby feed-through terminals or wires embedded in the glass. Most bulbs areused in a socket which provides mechanical support and electricalconnections. A halogen lamp (a.k.a. Tungsten halogen lamp or quartziodine lamp) is an incandescent lamp that has a small amount of ahalogen such as iodine or bromine added. The combination of the halogengas and the tungsten filament produces a halogen cycle chemical reactionwhich redeposits evaporated tungsten back to the filament, increasingits life and maintaining the clarity of the envelope. Because of this, ahalogen lamp can be operated at a higher temperature than a standardgas-filled lamp of similar power and operating life, producing light ofa higher luminous efficacy and color temperature. The small size ofhalogen lamps permits their use in compact optical systems forprojectors and illumination.

A Light-Emitting Diode (LED) is a semiconductor light source, based onthe principle that when a diode is forward-biased (switched on),electrons are able to recombine with electron holes within the device,releasing energy in the form of photons. This effect is calledelectroluminescence and the color of the light (corresponding to theenergy of the photon) is determined by the energy gap of thesemiconductor. Conventional LEDs are made from a variety of inorganicsemiconductor materials, such as Aluminium gallium arsenide (AlGaAs),Gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP) Aluminium gallium indium phosphide(AlGaInP), Gallium (III) phosphide (GaP), Zinc selenide (ZnSe), Indiumgallium nitride (InGaN), and Silicon carbide (SiC) as substrate.

In an Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) the electroluminescentmaterial comprising the emissive layer of the diode, is an organiccompound. The organic material is electrically conductive due to thedelocalization of pi electrons caused by conjugation over all or part ofthe molecule, and the material therefore functions as an organicsemiconductor. The organic materials can be small organic molecules in acrystalline phase, or polymers. High-power LEDs (HPLED) can be driven atcurrents from hundreds of mAs to more than an amper, compared with thetens of mAs for other LEDs. Some can emit over a thousand Lumens. Sinceoverheating is destructive, the HPLEDs are commonly mounted on a heatsink to allow for heat dissipation.

LEDs are efficient, and emit more light per watt than incandescent lightbulbs. They can emit light of an intended color without using any colorfilters as traditional lighting methods need. LEDs can be very small(smaller than 2 mm²) and are easily populated onto printed circuitboards. LEDs light up very quickly. A typical red indicator LED willachieve full brightness in under a microsecond. LEDs are ideal for usessubject to frequent on-off cycling, unlike fluorescent lamps that failfaster when cycled often, or HID lamps that require a long time beforerestarting and can very easily be dimmed either by pulse-widthmodulation or lowering the forward current. Further, in contrast to mostlight sources, LEDs radiate very little heat in the form of IR that cancause damage to sensitive objects or fabrics, and typically have arelatively long useful life.

While exampled above regarding switching common domestic AC power suchas 115 VAC or 220 VAC power (to the lamp 12) any other electrical powermay be equally switched. For example, lower voltage AC power may be usedsuch as 5 VAC, 12 VAC, and 24 VAC. Similarly, while exampled aboveregarding switching common domestic AC power using a frequency of 50 or60 Hz, other electrical power having different frequencies may beequally switched, such as 400 Hz. Further, the system above may be usedto switch DC voltages.

Discussions herein utilizing terms such as, for example, “processing,”“computing,” “calculating,” “determining,” “establishing”, “analyzing”,“checking”, or the like, may refer to operation(s) and/or process(es) ofa computer, a computing platform, a computing system, or otherelectronic computing device, that manipulate and/or transform datarepresented as physical (e.g., electronic) quantities within thecomputer's registers and/or memories into other data similarlyrepresented as physical quantities within the computer's registersand/or memories or other information storage medium that may storeinstructions to perform operations and/or processes.

Throughout the description and claims of this specification, the word“couple”, and variations of that word such as “coupling”, “coupled”, and“couplable”, refer to an electrical connection (such as a copper wire orsoldered connection), a logical connection (such as through logicaldevices of a semiconductor device), a virtual connection (such asthrough randomly assigned memory locations of a memory device) or anyother suitable direct or indirect connections (including combination orseries of connections), for example for allowing for the transfer ofpower, signal, or data, as well as connections formed throughintervening devices or elements.

The arrangements and methods described herein may be implemented usinghardware, software or a combination of both. The term “integration” or“software integration” or any other reference to the integration of twoprograms or processes herein refers to software components (e.g.,programs, modules, functions, processes etc.) that are (directly or viaanother component) combined, working or functioning together or form awhole, commonly for sharing a common purpose or set of objectives. Suchsoftware integration can take the form of sharing the same program code,exchanging data, being managed by the same manager program, executed bythe same processor, stored on the same medium, sharing the same GUI orother user interface, sharing peripheral hardware (such as a monitor,printer, keyboard and memory), sharing data or a database, or being partof a single package. The term “integration” or “hardware integration” orintegration of hardware components herein refers to hardware componentsthat are (directly or via another component) combined, working orfunctioning together or form a whole, commonly for sharing a commonpurpose or set of objectives. Such hardware integration can take theform of sharing the same power source (or power supply) or sharing otherresources, exchanging data or control (e.g., by communicating), beingmanaged by the same manager, physically connected or attached, sharingperipheral hardware connection (such as a monitor, printer, keyboard andmemory), being part of a single package or mounted in a single enclosure(or any other physical collocating), sharing a communication port, orused or controlled with the same software or hardware. The term“integration” herein refers (as applicable) to a software integration, ahardware integration, or any combination thereof.

The term “port” refers to a place of access to a device, electricalcircuit or network, where energy or signal may be supplied or withdrawn.The term “interface” of a networked device refers to a physicalinterface, a logical interface (e.g., a portion of a physical interfaceor sometimes referred to in the industry as a sub-interface—for example,such as, but not limited to a particular VLAN associated with a networkinterface), and/or a virtual interface (e.g., traffic grouped togetherbased on some characteristic—for example, such as, but not limited to, atunnel interface). As used herein, the term “independent” relating totwo (or more) elements, processes, or functionalities, refers to ascenario where one does not affect nor preclude the other. For example,independent communication such as over a pair of independent data routesmeans that communication over one data route does not affect norpreclude the communication over the other data routes.

The term “processor” is meant to include any integrated circuit or otherelectronic device (or collection of devices) capable of performing anoperation on at least one instruction including, without limitation,Reduced Instruction Set Core (RISC) processors, CISC microprocessors,Microcontroller Units (MCUs), CISC-based Central Processing Units(CPUs), and Digital Signal Processors (DSPs). The hardware of suchdevices may be integrated onto a single substrate (e.g., silicon “die”),or distributed among two or more substrates. Furthermore, variousfunctional aspects of the processor may be implemented solely assoftware or firmware associated with the processor.

As used herein, the term “Integrated Circuit” (IC) shall include anytype of integrated device of any function where the electronic circuitis manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into thesurface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material (e.g., Silicon),whether single or multiple die, or small or large scale of integration,and irrespective of process or base materials (including, withoutlimitation Si, SiGe, CMOS and GAs) including, without limitation,applications specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmablegate arrays (FPGAs), digital processors (e.g., DSPs, CISCmicroprocessors, or RISC processors), so-called “system-on-a-chip” (SoC)devices, memory (e.g., DRAM, SRAM, flash memory, ROM), mixed-signaldevices, and analog ICs. The circuits in an IC are typically containedin a silicon piece or in a semiconductor wafer, and commonly packaged asa unit. The solid-state circuits commonly include interconnected activeand passive devices, diffused into a single silicon chip. Integratedcircuits can be classified into analog, digital and mixed signal (bothanalog and digital on the same chip). Digital integrated circuitscommonly contain many of logic gates, flip-flops, multiplexers, andother circuits in a few square millimeters. The small size of thesecircuits allows high speed, low power dissipation, and reducedmanufacturing cost compared with board-level integration. Further, amulti-chip module (MCM) may be used, where multiple integrated circuits(ICs), the semiconductor dies, or other discrete components are packagedonto a unifying substrate, facilitating their use as a single component(as though a larger IC).

The term “computer-readable medium” (or “machine-readable medium”) asused herein is an extensible term that refers to any medium or anymemory, that participates in providing instructions to a processor,(such as processor 71) for execution, or any mechanism for storing ortransmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., acomputer). Such a medium may store computer-executable instructions tobe executed by a processing element and/or software, and data which ismanipulated by a processing element and/or software, and may take manyforms, including but not limited to, non-volatile medium, volatilemedium, and transmission medium. Transmission media includes coaxialcables, copper wire and fiber optics. Transmission media can also takethe form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated duringradio-wave and infrared data communications, or other form ofpropagating signals (e.g., carrier waves, infrared signals, digitalsignals, etc.). Common forms of computer-readable media include, forexample, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, orany other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical medium,punch-cards, paper-tape, any other physical medium with patterns ofholes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip orcartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any other mediumfrom which a computer can read.

The term “computer” is used generically herein to describe any number ofcomputers, including, but not limited to personal computers, embeddedprocessing elements and systems, software, ASICs, chips, workstations,mainframes, etc. Any computer herein may consist of, or be part of, ahandheld computer, including any portable computer which is small enoughto be held and operated while holding in one hand or fit into a pocket.Such a device, also referred to as a mobile device, typically has adisplay screen with touch input and/or miniature keyboard. Non-limitingexamples of such devices include Digital Still Camera (DSC), Digitalvideo Camera (DVC or digital camcorder), Personal Digital Assistant(PDA), and mobile phones and Smartphones. The mobile devices may combinevideo, audio and advanced communication capabilities, such as PAN andWLAN. A mobile phone (also known as a cellular phone, cell phone and ahand phone) is a device which can make and receive telephone calls overa radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area, by connectingto a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator. The callsare to and from the public telephone network which includes othermobiles and fixed-line phones across the world. The Smartphones maycombine the functions of a personal digital assistant (PDA), and mayserve as portable media players and camera phones with high-resolutiontouch-screens, web browsers that can access, and properly display,standard web pages rather than just mobile-optimized sites, GPSnavigation, Wi-Fi and mobile broadband access. In addition to telephony,the Smartphones may support a wide variety of other services such astext messaging, MMS, email, Internet access, short-range wirelesscommunications (infrared, Bluetooth), business applications, gaming andphotography.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various devices andsystems, for example, a Personal Computer (PC), a desktop computer, amobile computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tabletcomputer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, aPersonal Digital Assistant (PDA) device, a cellular handset, a handheldPDA device, an on-board device, an off-board device, a hybrid device, avehicular device, a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, anon-mobile or non-portable device, a wireless communication station, awireless communication device, a wireless Access Point (AP), a wired orwireless router, a wired or wireless modem, a wired or wireless network,a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wireless LAN (WLAN), a Metropolitan AreaNetwork (MAN), a Wireless MAN (WMAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), aWireless WAN (WWAN), a Personal Area Network (PAN), a Wireless PAN(WPAN), devices and/or networks operating substantially in accordancewith existing IEEE 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11k, 802.11n,802.11r, 802.16, 802.16d, 802.16e, 802.20, 802.21 standards and/orfuture versions and/or derivatives of the above standards, units and/ordevices which are part of the above networks, one way and/or two-wayradio communication systems, cellular radio-telephone communicationsystems, a cellular telephone, a wireless telephone, a PersonalCommunication Systems (PCS) device, a PDA device which incorporates awireless communication device, a mobile or portable Global PositioningSystem (GPS) device, a device which incorporates a GPS receiver ortransceiver or chip, a device which incorporates an RFID element orchip, a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) transceiver or device, aSingle Input Multiple Output (SIMO) transceiver or device, a MultipleInput Single Output (MISO) transceiver or device, a device having one ormore internal antennas and/or external antennas, Digital Video Broadcast(DVB) devices or systems, multi-standard radio devices or systems, awired or wireless handheld device (e.g., BlackBerry, Palm Treo), aWireless Application Protocol (WAP) device, or the like.

As used herein, the terms “program”, “programmable”, and “computerprogram” are meant to include any sequence or human or machinecognizable steps which perform a function. Such programs are notinherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus, andmay be rendered in virtually any programming language or environment,including, for example, C/C++, Fortran, COBOL, PASCAL, assemblylanguage, markup languages (e.g., HTML, SGML, XML, VoXML), and thelikes, as well as object-oriented environments such as the Common ObjectRequest Broker Architecture (CORBA), Java™ (including J2ME, Java Beans,etc.) and the like, as well as in firmware or other implementations.Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, etc., that performs particular tasks orimplement particular abstract data types.

The terms “task” and “process” are used generically herein to describeany type of running programs, including, but not limited to a computerprocess, task, thread, executing application, operating system, userprocess, device driver, native code, machine or other language, etc.,and can be interactive and/or non-interactive, executing locally and/orremotely, executing in foreground and/or background, executing in theuser and/or operating system address spaces, a routine of a libraryand/or standalone application, and is not limited to any particularmemory partitioning technique. The steps, connections, and processing ofsignals and information illustrated in the figures, including, but notlimited to, any block and flow diagrams and message sequence charts, maytypically be performed in the same or in a different serial or parallelordering and/or by different components and/or processes, threads, etc.,and/or over different connections and be combined with other functionsin other embodiments, unless this disables the embodiment or a sequenceis explicitly or implicitly required (e.g., for a sequence of readingthe value, processing the value—the value must be obtained prior toprocessing it, although some of the associated processing may beperformed prior to, concurrently with, and/or after the read operation).Where certain process steps are described in a particular order or wherealphabetic and/or alphanumeric labels are used to identify certainsteps, the embodiments of the invention are not limited to anyparticular order of carrying out such steps. In particular, the labelsare used merely for convenient identification of steps, and are notintended to imply, specify or require a particular order for carryingout such steps. Furthermore, other embodiments may use more or lesssteps than those discussed herein. The invention may also be practicedin distributed computing environments where tasks are performed byremote processing devices that are linked through a communicationsnetwork. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may belocated in both local and remote memory storage devices.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans plus function elements in the claims below are intended to includeany structure, or material, for performing the function in combinationwith other claimed elements as specifically claimed. The description ofthe present invention has been presented for purposes of illustrationand description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to theinvention in the form disclosed. The present invention should not beconsidered limited to the particular embodiments described above, butrather should be understood to cover all aspects of the invention asfairly set out in the attached claims Various modifications, equivalentprocesses, as well as numerous structures to which the present inventionmay be applicable, will be readily apparent to those skilled in the artto which the present invention is directed upon review of the presentdisclosure.

All publications, standards, patents, and patent applications cited inthis specification are incorporated herein by reference as if eachindividual publication, patent, or patent application were specificallyand individually indicated to be incorporated by reference and set forthin its entirety herein.

1. A device having two terminals connectable in series to an AC powersource and a load for switching an AC power signal from the AC powersource to the load, the device comprising in a single enclosure: a firstterminal for connecting to the AC power source; a second terminal forconnecting to the load; a first electrically controlled switchingcomponent comprising a first switch connected between third and fourthterminals that is controlled by a first signal at a fifth terminal; asecond electrically controlled switching component comprising a secondswitch connected between sixth and seventh terminals that is controlledby a second signal at an eighth terminal; and a logic circuit coupled tooutput the first and second signals respectively to the fifth and eighthterminals; wherein the first and second switches are coupled in seriesto pass the AC power signal between the first and second terminals,wherein the device is powered only from the AC power signal, and whereinthe device is configured to be in first and second states, wherein inthe first state the first and second switches are controlled by thelogic circuit to pass the AC power signal between the first and secondterminals to power the load, and wherein in the second state the firstand second switches are controlled by the logic circuit to stop the ACpower signal between the first and second terminals.
 2. The deviceaccording to claim 1 wherein the logic circuit consists of, or includes,software and a processor for executing the software.
 3. The deviceaccording to claim 1 wherein the logic circuit is at least partiallypowered from the AC power signal.
 4. The device according to claim 1wherein the first electrically controlled switching component, or thesecond electrically controlled switching component, is based on, is partof, or consists of, a relay.
 5. The device according to claim 4 whereinthe relay is a solenoid-based electromagnetic relay or a reed relay. 6.The device according to claim 4 wherein the relay is a solid-state orsemiconductor based relay.
 7. The device according to claim 6 whereinthe relay is a Solid State Relay (SSR).
 8. The device according to claim1 wherein the first electrically controlled switching component or theelectrically controlled switching second component is based on,comprises, or consists of, an electrical circuit that comprises an opencollector transistor, an open drain transistor, a thyristor, a TRIAC, oran opto-isolator.
 9. The device according to claim 1 wherein the firstelectrically controlled switching component, or the second electricallycontrolled switching component, is based on, comprises, or consists of,an electrical circuit or a transistor.
 10. The device according to claim9 wherein the transistor is a field-effect power transistor, wherein thethird connection or the sixth connection is a ‘drain’ pin, the fourthconnection or the seventh connection is a ‘source’ pin, and the fifthterminal or the eighth terminal is a ‘gate’ pin.
 11. The deviceaccording to claim 10 wherein the field-effect power transistor is anN-channel or a P-channel field-effect power transistor.
 12. The deviceaccording to claim 1 further comprising an AC/DC converter connected tobe power fed from the first and second terminals, and configured tosupply a DC power.
 13. The device according to claim 12 furthercomprising a capacitor or a battery connected to be charged from the DCpower.
 14. The device according to claim 1 further comprising tactilesensor coupled to the logic circuit for shifting between the states inresponse to a human touch or a human mechanical activation.
 15. Thedevice according to claim 1 further operative to shifting between thestates in response to a remote command.
 16. The device according toclaim 15 further comprising an antenna for receiving signals over theair, and a wireless transceiver coupled to the antenna to receive theremote command from a wireless network, wherein the logic circuitscoupled to the wireless transceiver to receive the remote commandtherefrom.
 17. The device according to claim 16 wherein the wirelessnetwork is a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN), the wirelesstransceiver is a WPAN transceiver, and the antenna is a WPAN antenna.18. The device according to claim 17 wherein the WPAN is according to,or based on, Bluetooth™ or IEEE 802.15.1-2005 standards, or wherein theWPAN is a wireless control network that is according to, or based on,Zigbee™, IEEE 802.15.4-2003, or Z-Wave™ standards.
 19. The deviceaccording to claim 16 wherein the wireless network is a Wireless LocalArea Network (WLAN), the wireless transceiver is a WLAN transceiver, andthe antenna is a WLAN antenna.
 20. The device according to claim 19wherein the WLAN is according to, or base on, IEEE 802.11-2012, IEEE802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, or IEEE 802.11ac. 21.The device according to claim 16 wherein the wireless network is over alicensed or unlicensed radio frequency band.
 22. The device according toclaim 21 wherein the unlicensed radio frequency band is an Industrial,Scientific and Medical (ISM) radio band.
 23. The device according toclaim 16 wherein the wireless network is a Wireless Wide Area Network(WWAN), the wireless transceiver is a WWAN transceiver, and the antennais a WWAN antenna.
 24. The device according to claim 23 wherein the WWANis a wireless broadband network.
 25. The device according to claim 24wherein the wireless network is a WiMAX network, wherein the antenna isa WiMAX antenna and the wireless transceiver is a WiMAX modem, and theWiMAX network is according to, or based on, IEEE 802.16-2009.
 26. Thedevice according to claim 24 wherein the wireless network is a cellulartelephone network, the antenna is a cellular antenna, and the wirelesstransceiver is a cellular modem.
 27. The device according to claim 26wherein the cellular telephone network is a Third Generation (3G)network that uses UMTS W-CDMA, UMTS HSPA, UMTS TDD, CDMA2000 1xRTT,CDMA2000 EV-DO, or GSM EDGE-Evolution, or wherein the cellular telephonenetwork is a Fourth Generation (4G) network that uses HSPA+, MobileWiMAX, LTE, LTE-Advanced, MBWA, or is based on IEEE 802.20-2008.
 28. Thedevice according to claim 1 further configured to substitute a lightswitch.
 29. The device according to claim 28 wherein the singleenclosure is dimensioned and shaped to be installed in a light switchoutlet cavity.
 30. The device according to claim 1 wherein the AC poweris a domestic mains.
 31. The device according to claim 30 wherein the ACpower is nominally 120 VAC/60 Hz or 230 VAC/50 Hz.
 32. The deviceaccording to claim 30 wherein the load is a light source.
 33. The deviceaccording to claim 32 wherein the light source light source is anelectric light source for converting electrical energy into light. 34.The device according to claim 33 wherein the electric light source emitsvisible or non-visible light for illumination or indication, thenon-visible light is infrared, ultraviolet, X-rays, or gamma rays. 35.The device according to claim 34 wherein the electric light sourceconsists of, or comprises, a lamp, an incandescent lamp, a gas dischargelamp, a fluorescent lamp, a Solid-State Lighting (SSL), a Light EmittingDiode (LED), an Organic LED (OLED), a polymer LED (PLED), or a laserdiode.
 36. A system for switching AC power from the AC power source tothe load, the system comprising: the load; and the device according toclaim 1, wherein the device is connected in series between the AC powersource and the load for switching the AC power from the AC power sourceto the load.
 37. The device according to claim 1 further comprising anelectrical energy storing component for storing DC power and forpowering the logic circuit, the component is coupled in parallel to thesecond switch to be charged from the AC power signal, wherein as part ofthe first state the device is configured to further be in third andfourth states, wherein in the third state the component is charged fromthe AC power signal and in the fourth state the logic circuit is poweredby the component.
 38. The device according to claim 37 wherein theelectrical energy-storing component consists of, or comprises, arechargeable battery or a capacitor.
 39. The device according to claim37 further comprising a voltage detector responsive to the detectedvoltage across the first and second terminals, across the second switch,or across the electrical energy storing component, and wherein thedevice is configured to be in the third state when the detected voltageis positive.
 40. The device according to claim 39 for use with a voltagethreshold, wherein the device is configured to be in the third statewhen the detected voltage is below the voltage threshold.